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LONDON, May 1
(Reuters) - The mining industry must take the initiative in standardising its
approach to social, economic and environmental considerations, according to a
new report from the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD)
project. "The world is not yet ready for some kind of global mining convention
where all the governments get together and decide how to regulate the
industry," MMSD Project Director Luke Danielson told a news briefing in London
on Wednesday. "There an enormous need for the industry to step forward and
initiate the process," he said. MMSD, which is backed by a range of major
mining companies and institutions such as the World Bank and the UN
Environment Programme, has completed its final report after two years of
consultation and research. A hefty tome of over 400 pages will be published
next month, but the full text should be available from Thursday at the MMSD
website, www.iied.org/mmsd/, Danielson said. The question of sustainable
development is a key one for the future of the industry. "The minerals
industry has long felt in certain places that the fact that its products were
needed was an adequate justification for anything it did," Danielson said.
"Meeting market demand for mineral commodities is not all that society expects
from this industry." While stressing that the sector had already made progress
in recent years, Sir Robert Wilson, chairman of Anglo-Australian mining giant
Rio Tinto told the briefing that further moves in this direction were crucial.
"We have to face the constant challenge of how to achieve trade-offs between
the economic benefits, social implications and environmental consequences of
our actions," said Wilson, who is co-chairman of the MMSD sponsors' council.
"The industry recognises that it needs to change its behaviour patterns."

MINING PROTOCOL

MMSD's Danielson
called for the introduction of a mining protocol to cover the key issues. The
protocol would need a consensus on the various sustainable development issues,
a verification process and a system of incentives to ensure that goals were
met, he said. The mining industry would take time to frame its response to
this and other MMSD recommendations, such as a commitment to address the
legacy of abandoned mine operations and the legalisation of artisanal and
small-scale mining, Wilson said. "At one level you will see individual
companies responding -- Rio Tinto will be revising our statement of business
principles in the wake of this debate," he said. On a broader level, "the
protocol does seem to me to be something that will happen," he added. While
the public image of the mining sector remains largely negative, Wilson denied
suggestions that industry participation in the MMSD project was essentially a
public relations exercise. "We're not going to get a better perception (of the
mining industry) without better performance," he said. "If the industry
delivers more effectively, perceptions will change over time." He added,
however, that a number of the MMSD recommendations would require active
participation from governments, local communities and inter-governmental
bodies as well as the industry itself. "There are boundary issues
between individual responsibility and government responsibility, but where is
that line to be drawn?" Wilson said. MMSD's Danielson recognised that the onus
for change should not fall solely on the mining industry. "While industry
clearly has a lot to do it is also clear that no amount of leadership from
industry alone will be a total solution," he said.

Nigerian Regional
Integration and Cooperation Minister Bimbola Ogunkelu yesterday called on
African countries to collaborate in managing the continent's water resources
in order to further the cause of sustainable development. Ogunkelu spoke
on the second day of a two-day African ministerial conference on water in
Nigeria's capital, Abuja. Ogunkelu said regional management is the best
approach as Africa faces drought, water shortages, floods, agriculture
problems and unsafe drinking water. About 300 million people in Africa
do not have access to safe water, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday,
compounding severe strains on food production, ecosystem protection and
economic development. With more than 50 of its major water basins shared by
two or more countries, Africa will need integrated management to prevent
future conflicts, Ogunkelu said, adding that water is a sound basis for
cooperation, economic integration and the realization of goals of the New
Partnership for Africa's Development. The Abuja meeting was expected to draw
up a regional consensus for presentation at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development, slated to begin in Johannesburg in August, and the Third World
Water Forum, due to be held in Japan next year

The Environmental
Research and Wildlife Development Agency will hold an international dialogue
at the Abu Dhabi Hilton on Thursday to discuss the Abu Dhabi global initiative
on environmental data collection. Majid Al Mansouri, the agency's Acting
Secretary-General, said the objectives are to explore issues raised by the
Environmental Sustainability Index, discuss the Abu Dhabi global initiative on
environmental data collection, and look into the formulation of an
environmental achievement index. Finland leads the world in environmental
sustainability, according to a study of 142 nations released at the World
Economic Forum in February in New York. The study ranks the U.S. 51st, showing
that a nation's economic status does not always correspond to its ESI
performance. The UAE ranked last. The Abu Dhabi global initiative on
environmental data collection, to be launched at the 'World Summit for
Environmental Sustainability' to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from
August 26 to September 4, is a collective global effort that has evolved as a
result of the widening gap between developed and developing countries. The
initiative is intended to present an innovative approach to the promotion of
quality environmental data collection for further use by the developing world.
The approach is essentially non-expert oriented, based on partnerships,
precautionary and participatory, and decentralised. Twenty-eight experts from
17 countries will take part in the debate to discuss a global initiative for
environmental data collection. Its priorities are to mobilise resources, raise
appropriate funds, assess regional environmental data needs, and collect and
establish regional environmental information inventories and indicators. Since
the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 and the adoption of Agenda 21, the global
blueprint for sustainable development, the issue of quality information
infrastructure is a matter of immense importance to the formulation of
implementation policies and strategies. As a result, a number of initiatives
have been undertaken, both internationally, regionally and nationally to
improve methods for the collection and assessment of data. In this connection,
the United Nations, the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development, and the European Union are among the leaders in the endeavour
to improve the quality of 'Information for Decision Making' including the
promotion of sustainable development indicators, globally. Al Mansouri said
the data collection from the UAE will be ready before the release of the next
index in a few years' time." Sincere initiatives by leading specialised
institutions towards the development of sustainability indicators are also
on-going. The dividing line between developed and developing countries in this
respect is the availability of data," said the agency official. Few developing
countries, he added, have invested in the promotion of their national
information infrastructure, and commensurate with its exceptional economic
development growth, the UAE had to establish quality information
infrastructure needed for proper planning and management of the various
sectors' development." In order to give international participants a broad
background on the UAE's environmental efforts and achievements, a two-day
technical tour covering major achievements in the sectors contributing to
sustainable development is to be conducted," Al Mansouri said. This, he added,
will include field visits to, and a number of presentations about, main
environmental agencies, including the Environmental Research and Wildlife
Development Agency, the water and electricity departments, the Geographical
Information System, municipalities and national spatial data infrastructure,
animal conservation areas, marine conservation areas, Dubai Internet City, Abu
Dhabi oil companies, trade and development institutions and agriculture
projects.

The first biennial
U.N. World Urban Forum, designed to examine innovative policies for
sustainable urbanization and address the needs of the world's 100 million slum
dwellers, opened yesterday in Nairobi. U.N. Human Settlements Program
(UN-HABITAT) Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka said the meeting is focusing on
issues at the forefront of the "brown agenda" and sustainable urbanization.
"This is the place to generate innovative models of urban management, to test
out new ideas and harness creative thoughts to make our cities healthy, safe,
productive, equitable and democratic," she said yesterday. The five-day
meeting, organized by UN-HABITAT, will formulate recommendations for the World
Summit for Sustainable Development in August. Half a century ago, New York was
the world's only urban center with more than 10 million residents, but today
19 such cities exist, according to UN-HABITAT. Some 3 billion people --
half the Earth's population -- now live in cities, and it is estimated that
between 1990 and 1995, the cities in the developing world grew by 263 million
people, the equivalent of another Los Angeles every three months. U.N.-HABITAT
says that in cities all over the world, social exclusion and spatial
segregation are increasing. The challenge for the international community will
be "to make both urbanization and globalization work for everyone," Tibaijuka
said. The forum opened with an address from Kenyan President Daniel Moi, who
spoke about the Millennium Declaration goal of improving the lives of the
world's slum dwellers by 2020.

5)
MINISTER CALLS ON BUSINESS AND CIVIL SOCIETY TO SUPPORT THE WORLD SUMMIT:

MONDAY, 29 APRIL
2002: The success of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which
will be hosted by South Africa from August 26 to September 4 this year, will
not only depend on the programme of action agreed upon by the various
governments, but also on the commitments of each government's civil society
and business sector. This is the message given this morning by the Minister of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mohammed Valli Moosa, to business leaders
at a breakfast meeting hosted by Leadership magazine in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Briefing the leaders on the objectives of the summit, Minister Moosa said
concrete outcomes from the summit are imperative in a world in which more
people than ever before live in sub-human poverty and where the economic
shape-up continues to sideline and isolate Africa and the rest of the South.
"We will be going to Johannesburg conscious of the reality that the challenge
of eradicating poverty and halving the number of impoverished people by 2015
is a challenge we as governments cannot tackle alone. This translates into a
call for the undivided commitment of all partners behind the pursuit of the
agreements that will emerge from here. "We come to Johannesburg cognisant that
economic growth, social development and environmental protection go hand in
hand, and therefore business, civil society and government have no choice but
to make this partnership a reality," he said. The Johannesburg gathering
should restore hope and certainty among people of the world and should leave a
message that ten years from now, governments will be able to look back at the
summit with pride and say that it was a landmark in their efforts to create a
sustainable future for all. Minister Moosa said the multi-stakeholder advisory
committee that has been established continues to ensure that in the
preparations for the summit the views of business, NGOs and labour are taken
into account.

"We are privileged
with a unique opportunity to demonstrate our ability to deliver an event of
this scale and thus prove that our country is a place where people can invest
with confidence. It is an opportunity we dare not underutilise," added the
Minister.

The first World Urban
Forum opened at the United Nations headquarters in Kenya Monday. The major
goal of the five-day conference is to find ways of dealing with the explosive
growth of cities in the developing world. Around the world, seven out of ten
city dwellers live in slums. Opening the first World Urban Forum in Nairobi,
the U.N. Habitat's executive director, Anna Tibaijuka, described what life is
like for poor people in overcrowded cities. "They live densely packed. Their
shacks are vulnerable to natural disasters such as heavy rains or sudden
fires," she listed. "They have precarious employment. They are exposed to
higher incidence of infectious diseases including HIV-AIDS, arbitrary arrest
and unlawful forced eviction. Neglected by formal institutions, they are often
left unprotected against violence, drug dealers, corrupt officials,
unscrupulous slumlords and organized crime. For lack of alternatives, a good
number of slum dwellers also become drawn into such anti-social behavior
themselves." U.N. officials say the urban areas of Africa and Asia have
exploding populations and will soon be getting even bigger. By 2010, another
340 million people will have moved from rural to urban areas. Ms Tibaijuka
urged delegates at the World Urban Forum to find ways of working with these
new migrants to the cities. "The challenge is, where feasible, providing
security of tenure to the squatters through upgrading and where relocation
must take place, doing it through community-led initiatives to avoid conflicts
and ensure sustainability," she said. "Sustainable urbanization lies in
forging partnerships with the urban poor and empowering them to solve their
own problems instead of fighting them through arbitrary forced evictions."
Though Ms. Tibaijuka made no mention of the Kenyan government, it has come
under fire from human rights groups in recent months over its city clean-up
campaign. Thousands of people have lost their homes and businesses after the
government bulldozed their illegal roadside kiosks. The World Urban Forum is
being hosted by the United Nations to help prepare for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development, which is taking place in South Africa at the end of
August.

7) SUMMIT MUST LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES MADE IN RIO

Can a
single meeting change the world? Many people will be hoping so when the
leaders of more than 150 countries come together in Johannesburg this summer
to try to put the world on a fairer, healthier, more sustainable path. The
importance of the talks was underlined yesterday when evidence emerged that,
over the next 100 years, the UK will have more extreme weather unless progress
is made on global warming. The chances of disappointment in Johannesburg,
however, are likely to be high. The World Summit on Sustainable Development
takes place from 26 August to 4 September. It will be the biggest
international diplomatic jamboree since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in
1992, with about 65,000 people due to attend. Tony Blair, who was the first
national leader to promise his presence, will be one of the key figures;
besides playing a substantial role in orchestrating the event, he will use the
platform it gives him to re-broadcast his appeal for a new order of
international cooperation after 11 September. New York's trauma and its
anniversary will cast a shadow over the conference, which was originally
scheduled to finish on 11 September, but has been brought forward by a week,
not least to allow the possibility of President George Bush attending,
something that is far from certain. The Johannesburg meeting is a direct
consequence of Rio - it is sometimes referred to as Rio
Plus 10 - and its purpose is to examine why many of the Earth Summit's
lofty aims remain unfulfilled a decade later The Rio conference resulted in
some achievements, but they were on the environment side of the equation
rather than on the development side. The principal one was the negotiation and
signing of the world treaty on climate change, which led to the 1997 Kyoto
protocol and industrialised countries trying to cut emissions of the gases
believed to cause global warming, which many scientists believe is the direst
threat to the globe. Although Rio's organisers, and many developing countries,
were hoping that the Earth Summit would produce commitments from the rich
nations to help the poor ones, all that resulted was an enormous plan of
action named Agenda 21, which sounded terrific, but has remained
unimplemented. Developing countries, and development professionals, largely
feel that Rio was about a rich-country environmental agenda, and that
development must therefore be the focus of Johannesburg. But what can it
achieve? There is a widely acknowledged danger that it could merely turn into
a talking shop, in which long-rehearsed arguments about overseas aid policy
are brought out, the United States is attacked, and the globalisation of the
world economy is pronounced to be the villain. Much depends on how focused the
agenda is. Innumerable subjects have been put forward for inclusion, which are
being whittled down into a draft text: a final preparatory meeting is to be
held in Bali, Indonesia, late next month. The shape of the agenda is emerging:
there will be a "statement of overarching principles" which heads of state and
government will sign; there will be some sort of Johannesburg action plan,
similar to Rio's Agenda 21; and there will be a raft of smaller,
let's-get-it-done agreements between, on the one hand, governments, the
business community, aid agencies and pressure groups, and on the other, poor
countries. It is this last group of deals - known as "type 2 outcomes" - which
may be Johannesburg's real achievement. While action plans and principles may
not add up to much, a smallish agreement between a British company and an
African village to provide, for example, a sustainable energy system can make
a difference. The British Government is emphasising the value of "type 2
outcomes" in September, and has already tightly focused its own agenda. Its
principal interests are poverty eradication, Africa as a whole, sustainable
energy and access to clean water for the poor. Non-delivery of expectations
will be one of the major dangers of the conference. America's war on terror is
also bound to affect the meeting. Will President Bush attend? Mr. Blair is
pressing him to do so. The presence of the leader of the world's only
superpower would give the meeting and its agreements a credibility they would
otherwise lack. But depending on how isolationist their mood is, the Americans
may well feel there is little in it for them. Johannesburg can do much good,
but in the end that may lie in the smaller agreements, the practical, specific
partnerships and deals to make life better for poor people, which will be
negotiated on the fringes of the conference .In five months' time this meeting
will be making an awful lot of well-intentioned and impressive-sounding noise
about changing the world, but the world being what it is, that noise may not
result in very much.

Paying for ecosystem
services and adding value to African commodities before export are just two of
the conclusions reached at the Dakar meeting that closed yesterday. The event,
entitled Environment for sustainable development in Africa, brought together
over 70 experts from 25 African countries. Organized by IUCN with support from
the World Bank and the Governments of France and Senegal, it was designed to
seek input from experts from African Civil Society into the preparation
process for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The focus was on
three critical issues: governance, financing and ecosystem management for
sustainable livelihoods. The main outcome, a statement entitled the Challenge
of Africa, will be used to lobby governments to include environmental
considerations into their positions at forthcoming meetings.

9) GOVERNMENT WOOS LABOUR OVER NEPAD

The
ANC is keen to prevent possible protests at Johannesburg's World Summit.
Senior government leaders briefed the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)
on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) this week, in what is
seen as a move to head off possible protests at the World Summit on
Sustainable Development later this year. The briefing by Minister of Trade and
Industry Alec Erwin, government communications boss Joel Netshitenzhe and the
president's economic adviser, Wiseman Nkuhlu, at a Cosatu executive committee
meeting reflected government worries about a civil society-led backlash
against Nepad at the summit, to be held between August 26 and September 4 in
Johannesburg, sources said. They said government was keen to prevent the
often-violent protests led by labour and civil society, which have become a
feature of world meetings. The briefing, the first given to Cosatu by the
African National Congress-led government, follows the split between civil
society and participating governments at the third preparatory meeting of the
summit, which ended in New York earlier this month. Senior party sources also
cited as a reason for government's courtship of the unions the upcoming G8
encounter in Kananaskis, Canada, on June 26 and 27, where Nepad is to be
discussed. "President Thabo Mbeki had already reversed his position on
HIV/Aids, which is also on the G8's agenda. They don't want any problems with
Nepad." The government has indicated that the continent intends to showcase
Nepad at the world summit in an attempt to lobby international support.
Disgruntled elements of civil society, who were not consulted on the
formulation of Nepad, have already indicated that they intend to air their
views on it at the August gathering. Some, grouping themselves as the South
African Social Forum, have said: "The document [Nepad] has been inspired by
Thabo Mbeki, developed without consulting the people of the continent and its
content is neo-liberal in character. "So it is not
surprising that it has been coined Gear for Africa. Our voice on Nepad also
needs to be heard." A similar view has also been aired in Cosatu circles,
where Nepad has been described as a "sophisticated begging bowl". Sources said
the ANC tried to lobby Cosatu to back Nepad at the recent alliance summit. The
issue has also been raised in the National Economic Development and Labour
Council (Nedlac). Sources said Cosatu considered rejecting the plan simply
because it had not been consulted or allowed to make an input. However, as it
supported initiatives aimed at developing Africa, it had decided to engage the
government on Nepad. The issue will be aired with Cosatu's members and a
decision taken at Cosatu's central executive meeting later this year. Some
labour sources feel Nepad's good governance prescriptions are vague, while
others at Cosatu's central executive felt that it pandered to the Washington
Consensus. It was felt that the plan did not get to grips with the economic
plight of ordinary Africans. "It says nothing about human resource development
and education," said a source. Also problematic for labour is the emphasis in
the Nepad document on privatisation and deregulation, the dropping of tariff
barriers and public-private partnerships, as instruments in promoting good
economic governance. Some in labour also feel that the plan appears confused
about the kind of approach to development -state-led or private sector-led -
that it is endorsing.

Environment
Commissioner Margot Wallström visited Washington this week to give new impetus
to transatlantic co-operation on environmental issues. She attended the first
formal meeting of the EU-US High Level Representatives on Climate Change on
Tuesday 23 April and launched a Study Group on Climate Change at the EU Center
of Washington DC. The Commissioner's busy programme provided for a series of
meetings with key US officials (J. Connaughton, Chairman of the White House
Council on Environmental Quality, C. Whitman, EPA Administrator,
P. J. Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for
Global Affairs, and A. P. Larson, Under Secretary of State for Economic,
Business and Agricultural Affairs). The Commissioner also had meetings on
Capitol Hill and met with representatives from civil society, private sector
and academic circles. At a press conference in Washington today, Commissioner
Wallström said: "We need to revitalize cooperation between the EU and the US
on certain environmental issues. This visit has been a useful launch pad to
move our cooperation forward. Obviously, we do not agree on everything and we
have different approaches to tackling environmental problems. The Kyoto
Protocol is one notable example. But we do need to work together on climate
change and we have now identified some areas for joint co-operation. We have
also agreed to work closer together in the preparations for the World Summit
on Sustainable Development and on environment and health." She added: "I have
also been pleased to see that so many US stakeholders are committed to
stronger action on environmental issues."

HIGHLIGHTS

Climate Change

* Although, the EU
and US continue to differ in approaches to climate change notably regarding
the Kyoto Protocol, the meeting of EU-US High Level Representatives and
subsequent bilateral meetings provided for a useful discussion and identified
areas for potential co-operation including in the area of science and research
and in the measurement, monitoring and verification of greenhouse gas
emissions and market-based incentives.

World Summit on
Sustainable Development

* On the World Summit
on Sustainable Development, there was agreement on the need to bring a sense
of urgency into the preparatory process to ensure a successful outcome at the
Johannesburg Summit as well as for the implementation gap to be addressed
through Partnerships. Agreement was also reached on the need to explore
prospects for co-operation in developing partnerships on issues such as access
to clean water and sanitation, access to energy and increased use of renewable
energy sources.

Environment and
Health

* Children's
Environment and Health - Commissioner Wallström and Governor Whitman agreed to
enhance bilateral co-operation in this important area. While, the immediate
priority is to ensure that Children's environmental health features as a theme
at WSSD, this will also be an area for further bilateral co-operation between
the European Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency.

11) SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SPOTLIGHT

AS SA
prepares to host the earth summit later this year, the environment is
increasingly taking centre stage as companies seek to move into line with
international best practice on sustainable development. Many of the drivers
for new environmental laws and standards have been inspired in part by the
forthcoming summit, say legal advisers. In addition, the second King Report on
Corporate Governance highlights the need for companies to comply with these
standards. Business is moving towards a triple bottom-line approach to
reporting, embracing environmental, social and economic criteria. Ian Sampson,
senior manager: Deloitte & Touche Legal, says that
constitutionally and in terms of the National Environmental Management Act the
principle of sustainable development is legally binding in SA. "In effect it
says that you should run your business today so that you leave something for
the generations that follow tomorrow," says Sampson. "The triple bottom-line
approach calls for the integration of environmental and social issues into the
day-to-day operations of a business. Until recently, many companies have not
recognised this principle at all," says Sampson. Where they have done so, it
has often been treated as a peripheral issue with relatively small budgets
allocated to a safety, health and environment manager to cover minimum
requirements. He says the second King report has an entire chapter dedicated
to sustainability reporting to move the issue into the boardroom rather than
down the line to management. "The law now directs companies to practice
sustainable development and King is reinforcing this as good practice. In SA
these issues seem set to remain in the realm of blue chiptype companies,
Sampson says, given their exposure to foreign markets. However, the earth
summit, new legislation and the second King report will slowly start forcing a
wider range of companies to take cognizance of sustainable development, he
says. There is likely to be a two pronged approach to change, says Sampson.
"One is that business, as a result of King for example, is trying to
demonstrate best practice." The other is that the laws and the constitution
are obviously binding on our government, which now has a legal obligation to
produce laws that manage these risks and we are starting to see that.
"Enforcement is starting to improve, he says. The auditor-general has now
taken an interest in environmental issues and in terms of the Public Finance
Management Act monitors government departments to ensure they are meeting
constitutional and regulatory obligations. In broad terms, the act stipulates
that the auditor-general must make sure that government entities comply with
all relevant legislation. The SA Constitution says that citizens have a right
to an environment that is not harmful to them, Sampson says. A second
stipulation is that government has an obligation to develop laws that satisfy
that right. "And it specifically says government has an obligation to develop
laws that achieve sustainable development."

12) WSSD TO PUT SA ON THE MAP

The
forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) will offer South
Africa an opportunity to showcase itself to the rest of the world, says
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Mohammed Valli Moosa. Addressing
business leaders in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, yesterday, Minister Moosa
said he was confident that a concrete plan of action would emerge from the
summit. 'The World summit is a unique opportunity for us as a country to
demonstrate our ability to deliver an event of this scale to prove that our
country is a place where people can invest with confidence. 'He said the new
deal on sustainable development sought at the summit should be based on solid
commitments from the developed and developing countries, addressing both
finance and trade issues.' The new deal would be in line with the New
Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) which is the basis for
sustainable development in Africa.' Nepad is a pledge by African leaders based
on a common vision and a firm and shared conviction that they have a pressing
duty to eradicate poverty and to place their countries both individually and
collectively on a path of sustainable growth and development. Nepad is
spearheaded President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and
was launched on 13 March 2002.

13) LIFTING THE CORPORATE VEIL

Calls
are being heard for negotiation of a new international convention on corporate
accountability in the run-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg in August Those promoting the idea
include Friends of the Earth International and Christian Aid. Their call has
been motivated in part by the intensified social and environmental degradation
that has accompanied the efficiencies and productivity increases resulting
from globalisation. Their identification of the need for clearer linkages to
be made between multinational corporations, human rights and the environment
has gained currency. Their efforts have been spurred by, among other things,
high-profile examples of degradation, such as the human rights abuses against
those opposing the oil operations of Shell and Unocal in Nigeria and Burma;
the employment of young children in Vietnamese "sweat-shops" supplying Nike;
and the legal case brought by asbestosis sufferers against Cape Plc.
Multinationals are perceived as principal beneficiaries of economic
globalisation. Their economic power is often thought to undermine democratic
institutions that are properly accountable to electorates, not to
shareholders. From a legal perspective, multinationals have always been a step
ahead. Wealthier than many states, they are not subject to public
international law because they are not states. Holding multinationals legally
accountable in national courts is fraught with difficulties — as was evident
in the cases brought in the United Kingdom against Cape and Thor Chemicals.
They have generally been able to utilise the concept of limited liability to
protect multinational parent companies, on the grounds that the liability for
the conduct of subsidiary companies based elsewhere could not attach to the
shareholder. And these subsidiaries, directly in the firing line, were
invariably insolvent, uninsured and located in states where access to justice
by local citizens was practically impossible. Criminal prosecutions of
corporations generally are rare, partly due to the high standard of proof
required to secure a conviction. Corporations cannot be imprisoned, and the
level of criminal fines meted out, even for serious breaches of health and
safety laws, invariably constitute a pitiful deterrent. Following the deaths
of workers from mercury poisoning, Thor Chemicals was fined just R13 000 by
the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate's Court. As far as criminal liability arising
from overseas operations is concerned, parent corporations "fall between
stools": their home courts are likely to rule that they have no criminal
jurisdiction as the misconduct took effect in another state. Local courts will
consider themselves unable to exercise jurisdiction over a foreign
corporation. "Corporate citizenship" and "corporate social responsibility" are
in vogue among multinationals. Practising corporate citizenship then means
minimising negative impacts of corporate activities and influence, while
enhancing the societal benefits that corporations can undoubtedly bring. The
expressions embody a notion that business should be understood as part of
society, contributing directly to the welfare of society. As long ago as 1954
the founder member of Anglo-American, Ernest Oppenheimer, laid down the
principle that: "The aim of the group is, and will remain, to make profits for
our shareholders, but to do it in such a way as to make a real and lasting
contribution to the communities in which we operate." The question, poignantly
raised by Amnesty International, is whether such statements "should be
perceived as a genuine aspiration or as a disingenuous attempt to pull the
wool over the eyes of an increasingly discerning and critical public". Through
shareholding, Anglo profited substantially from the asbestos mining operations
of Cape Plc, and shared several common directors. Paradoxically, Anglo's
rejection of the request for a contribution towards the Cape Plc asbestos
victims' settlement trust suggests that corporations are less likely to put
these principles into practice, the closer they are to home. The July 2001
European Commission Green Paper on Promoting a European Framework for
Corporate Social Responsibility defined the concept whereby companies decide
voluntarily to contribute to a better society and a cleaner environment. A
drawback of voluntary codes of conduct is that they are not legally binding,
and cannot impose any sanction for non-compliance. A committee of the European
Parliament has proposed a European directive requiring multinationals to
participate in a compulsory system of "social reporting" on the social and
environmental impacts of their businesses. This reporting would encompass
every unit of the business, including the supply chain. It is suggested that
awarding public contracts and private sector financial support would be
influenced by the results of such social reporting. The power of the United
States consumer lobby, working in concert with US plaintiff lawyers, arguably
constitutes the most formidable form of deterrence in the area of product
safety. However, this is primarily in relation to products that might harm US
consumers, rather than activities that might be damaging to the health or
environment of people in developing countries. Thus, the demise of the
asbestos industry was the result of reduction in worldwide demand for asbestos
products, due to increasing public fears over the health risks. Concern for
the South African asbestos miners hardly featured. Similarly, the antagonism
in Europe towards genetically modified food arises from fears of European
consumers for their own health, not the economic or environmental consequences
for developing countries or their farmers. However, there is growing awareness
of "fair trade" issues among consumer groups, for example boycotts of Nike in
US student campuses. For corporations that depend on their public image,
adverse publicity from human rights or environmental campaigns can be highly
damaging and provide an incentive for remedial action to be taken. The Cape
and Thor Chemicals cases are unique examples of multinationals being held
accountable for injuries in a developing country, despite the corporate veil.
The payment of substantial compensation and legal costs in these cases
provided a salutary warning to multinationals against the application of
"double standards" in developing countries. But binding legal precedents on
the issue of multinational liability were not set in those cases because they
were settled without trial. While the legal path has been cleared for similar
future cases to proceed, the outcome is by no means certain. An unhelpful
precedent in another case could reverse the trend. Where does all this leave
us? First, regulations and criminal sanctions are important but have serious
practical limitations. Second, civil actions can provide a powerful deterrent,
but only if citizens have proper access to justice and damages awards are high
enough. Third, codes of conduct are a constructive approach. But it should not
be left for companies to decide whether or not they wish to "contribute" to
the protection of human life and the environment. And fourth, campaigner and
consumer groups have a vital role to play. But US
and European consumers should not be relied on to protect the interests of
developing countries. A legally binding convention that is enforceable in
practice needs to be formulated to ensure proper multinational accountability,
capturing the supply-chain, not just subsidiaries. This convention must be
applied internationally and, in a development of international law, apply to
corporations as well as states. It is not necessary to reinvent the wheel: for
instance, the 1977 Declaration of Principles concerning Multinationals and
Social Policy, adopted by the UN International Labour Organisation, could be
integrated within a convention. It must be directly enforceable against
corporations, by states or affected citizens. Citizens must be provided with
the means to enforce the rights in the convention in practice. This topic is
high on the political agenda and the opportunity to deal with it justly must
be seized.

Richard Meeran is the British attorney who acted successfully for South
African asbestosis victims against Cape Plc

14)
MINISTER MOOSA SATISFIED WITH PROGRESS MADE IN THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE WORLD
SUMMIT

Minister of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mohammed Valli Moosa, expressed his
satisfaction with the progress made by countries in their deliberations in
preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which
South Africa will host in August and September this year. The Minister told
business leaders at the Standard Bank/Tribute Business Forum this morning that
he is confident that a concrete plan of action will emerge from the Summit. He
added that the Summit offered South Africa an opportunity to showcase itself
to the rest of the world. "The World Summit is a unique opportunity for us to
demonstrate our ability to deliver an event of this scale and thus prove that
our county is a place where people can invest with confidence.
"It is an opportunity to secure an indefinite legacy that will not only
benefit us as South Africa, but Africa as a whole", the Minister said.
Minister Moosa said the new deal on sustainable development sought at the
Summit should be based on solid commitments from the developed and developing
countries, addressing both finance and trade issues. South Africa believes
that this deal must incorporate a range of measures, including the extension
of current debt relief initiatives, incentives for the private sector to
invest in developing countries and measure to facilitate the transfer of
technology capacity and scientific innovation from developed to developing
countries. The new deal would be in line with the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD), which is the basis for sustainable development in Africa.
While the deal would represent a commitment by world leaders, said Minister
Moosa, its success would lie on a tangible programme of action to deliver key
results in sectors such as water and sanitation, energy, food security,
health, education and technology.

UNITED NATIONS -- In
a meeting billed as the first follow-up to the International Conference on
Financing for Development, finance ministers and officials from the United
Nations, World Bank and International Monetary Fund met yesterday to discuss
how all the parties could cooperate in implementing the promises made in at
the conference last month in Monterrey, Mexico. "Monterrey was not an end in
itself," said U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. "Our challenge now is
to maintain the positive spirit that led to the Monterrey Consensus, and
translate it into real and meaningful implementation. The consensus has
enormous potential to bring about significant, overdue change." According to
Croatian Ambassador Ivan Simonovic, the president of the Economic and Social
Council, "The Monterrey conference was an important first step in creating a
coherent and more participatory multilateral system that is more beneficial to
the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. A massive effort is
now required to mobilize more and better cooperation for development and to
build an international economic system more conducive to the development of
the poor. "The council regularly meets at this time of year, but since this
was its first meeting since the Monterrey conference, where ECOSOC was given a
role in following up on the pledges made at the event, the first day's meeting
was dedicated to a high-level discussion of how to implement the Monterrey
Consensus. "Our goal is obviously to make financial, trade and economic
activities and systems more supportive of our development goals, as well as to
make the most out of existing institutions by strengthening cooperation
between them," Simonovic said. "If we are going to take 'staying
engaged' from the Monterrey Consensus seriously, we have to establish a close
link between individual millennium development goals and principles set for
their financing in Monterrey. This would finally improve our
effectiveness in dealing with real world problems such as hunger, illiteracy,
poverty and diseases."

The Millennium
Declaration of September 2000 lists eight development goals: halving
extreme poverty and hunger by 2015; achieving universal primary education;
promoting gender equity; reducing child and maternal mortality; halving the
percent of people who do not have access to safe drinking water; reversing the
spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria, and ensuring environmental sustainability.
Annan told the meeting, "Where once we debated over competing visions of
development and how to measure it, we now have a common platform in the
Millennium Development Goals, which we will be striving to achieve and
monitoring together each year." He added, "I hope the unprecedented
level of collaboration between the United Nations, the Bretton Woods
institutions and the World Trade Organization will continue, so that our
institutions can respond effectively to the new responsibilities that have
been placed upon us." At a news conference after the meeting, Simonovic said
he was "very satisfied with the meeting. There was a clear indication
that there is a consensus that the Millennium Development Goals should be
realized, that Monterrey has set up the right principles and that now it is
time for action." South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, who was one of
two envoys Annan appointed to the Monterrey conference, told journalists that
after establishing the millennium goals and dealing with the financing
mechanisms at Monterrey, "there are still a number of gaps. Now we need
a determined plan of action ... that essentially is what Johannesburg must
deliver." Johannesburg will be the site of the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in August. Some of the issues Manuel named include
effective aid and market access. "There's no point in pouring [official
development aid] into countries if those economies cannot grow because there
is no place to grow. Economies will grow because they can produce for
export. If those markets remain closed, then clearly it will continue to
place a brake on development in poor countries." Another issue, he said,
is examining international support for domestic programs in recipient
countries. "This begins to redefine the role of the Bretton Woods
institutions and the inter-relationship between these and the U.N. system,"
Manuel said. Yesterday's meeting followed the World Bank-IMF Development
Committee meeting over the weekend in Washington, which also endorsed the
results of Monterrey. Following the model of the Monterrey conference,
yesterday's session also included two roundtable discussions to examine the
themes of the ECOSOC meeting. These roundtables included representatives
from all "stakeholders," including governments, international financial
institutions, nongovernmental organizations and business sector
representatives.

16) MINING SECTOR STARTS COUNTDOWN TO EARTH SUMMIT

LONDON
- Earth Day marks the start of a period of trial for the global mining
industry as the countdown begins to the next world environment summit in South
Africa in August. Some 60,000 delegates, including many heads of state, will
gather for 10 days from August 26 in Johannesburg for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development, which will tackle climate change, the loss of natural
resources and, for the first time, mining. And 10 years on from the first
so-called earth summit in Rio de Janeiro, little has changed in mining,
environment groups say. "On the ground, there's been virtually no change.
Mining continues to be as polluting and as energy-intensive as it was 10 years
ago," Payal Sampat, research associate at the Washington-based Worldwatch
Institute, said. Mining strips more of the earth's surface each year than
does natural erosion by rivers, Worldwatch says.
The industry is still using noxious chemicals to extract metals, mining waste
continues to pose a potential ecological hazard and the sector remains a
leading source of the greenhouse gases believed to be responsible for climate
change.

MINING
INITIATIVE

Yet
the industry is seen to have recognised that is has a pressing problem that
demands speedy action. Nine of the world's top mining firms formed the Global
Mining Initiative (GMI) in 2000 to conduct a two-year research programme into
sustainable development and the environment. Hugh Leggatt, communications
director for the GMI, said standards might have improved, but that the metals
industry was a long way from where it felt it should be. "We feel that there
is progress being made but there is a huge amount of work still has to be
done. We're not pretending that we're anywhere near where we ought to be in
terms of our reputation," said Leggatt, who is also communications advisor at
London-listed resources group Rio Tinto, a GMI member. The industry's critics,
however, remain to be convinced. "The Rio summit didn't really tackle mining
and this summit looks like it's going to be a trade show. So it's going to be
pretty unlikely governments are going to do things that we and most
communities around the world are saying - that these corporations have to be
brought to account," said Matt Philips, a senior campaigner for the UK branch
of Friends of the Earth. "There's going to be no outcomes from it
(Johannesburg) like the biodiversity convention, the forest principles and the
climate convention - those are off the agenda," Philips said, referring to the
three key environment accords reached in Rio. Johannesburg will also tackle
so-called ecological debt - rich nations benefiting from the natural resources
of poorer ones at the expense of the eco-system - corporate accountability and
human rights. Worldwatch's Sampat said the fact that mining was on the agenda
in South Africa, which relies on the industry for 40 percent of its export
earnings, was particularly significant. "This is where mining will come into
some kind of prominence as an environmental issue. We really need to deal with
this in Johannesburg - it wasn't even on the table at Rio - a big reason for
that is the place where it will be held," she said. Recycling, using clean
materials and cutting back on the amount of new metal mined could all
contribute to change, but Philips saw no single solution for the environmental
woes of the mining community. "What should the mining industry do? Well, it's
got to take ...action as an industry in its own right. But at the end of the
day the breaks are needed from governments which are beyond the wit of the
mining industry to deliver," he said.

Majority of participants at the 3-Day Accra Water Conference, which begun on
Monday April 15th, 2002, say that it has succeeded in highlighting water and
its related issues as pertaining in Africa. They said the conference has also
succeeded in creating the need for commitment by African governments to ensure
that water is given the needed priority in all national policies. These views
were gathered during a random interviewing of participants on Wednesday April
17th, 2002, the last day of the conference. About 200 participants attended
the Regional Stakeholders Conference for Priority Setting on "Water and
Sustainable Development in Africa" from different parts of the world. They
represented 41 African countries, international and national NGOs, private
sector agencies, research institutions, universities and water related
professionals and the media. The distinguished gathering also included
representatives of world bodies like UNESCO, UNEP, World Bank, European Union,
World Meteorological Organisation and the Economic Commission for Africa. It
was jointly organised by the African Development Bank, International Water
Management Institute, Food and Agriculture Organisation and Ghana's Water
Resources Commission with funding by The Netherlands Government. The main
objective was to produce a position paper that will project a high profile for
African water issues during the Johannesburg Summit. This was to be based on
the outcomes of discussions on water related issues. They are food security,
international trade and environment; transboundary water issues; financing
water and sanitation infrastructure as well as water, poverty and health.
Participants were also to discuss and make recommendations as inputs for the
paper entitled "No Water No Future". The paper was authored by His Royal
Highness Prince Willem Alexander, the Crown Prince of The Netherlands. It is
his initial contribution to the Panel of 12 people appointed by the UN
Secretary-General to help him in preparations towards the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002. In fact, His Royal
Highness is the Ambassador to the UN Secretary General on water issues at the
Johannesburg Summit. During the closing session of the Accra Water Conference,
an address by the Chairman of the African Water Taskforce Professor Albert
Wright indicated that the set objectives have been attained. Notable among the
achievements is the Accra Declaration which has been adopted and which serves
as a summary of the African position on water. The Declaration states that:
"given clear policies and strategies and real commitments to action, Africans
can use water to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development on the
continent." Among other things, the Declaration calls for the establishment of
a Water Fund for Africa to facility financial flows to implement water related
activities. It will also support integrated water resource management and
cooperation in shared river basins. A Source at the Water Resources Commission
in an interview explained that the outcomes of the Conference would serve as
vital technical inputs to the African Ministers Conference on Water; AMCOW
meeting that would be held in Abuja, Nigeria, at the end of April. "The
rectification of the Accra Declaration by the African Ministers would no doubt
provide the necessary political support that is needed in putting African
water issues as priority in Johannesburg," the source added. Another
outstanding achievement is the common position presented by Africa on Prince
Willem's paper. It focuses on some global major water related issues and urges
the forthcoming World Summit to reconfirm the priority of water and adopt
targets and actions that would address challenges. According to the paper,
water was not at the top agenda during the Rio Summit. A statement
representing Africa's comments and read by Professor Wright said Africans
consider the paper "No Water No Future," as a valuable contribution to the
awareness about water issues. It calls for the inclusion of an African chapter
based on recommendations specified in the African Position Paper. At a Press
Conference to crown the three days of deliberations on the water situation in
Africa, Prince Willem said so far 2000 comments have been received regarding
the paper. "The inclusion of the comments could alter the paper," he said,
adding, "If it is adopted in Johannesburg, then it will become a workable
document." Asked if the issue of gender has been well articulated at the
conference, the African Regional Officer in-charge of Women in Development,
Diana Tempelman replied in the affirmative. She said, "I'm pleased that gender
aspects of water management were discussed throughout." Miss Templeman said, "gender
mainstreaming is not Beijing, but is serious development planning from
efficiency, economic and equitable point of view, taking into consideration
the needs of all."

New
York - Speaking on the annual commemoration of Earth Day the Secretary-General
of the upcoming United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, Nitin
Desai, called on governments worldwide to increase efforts to conserve the
Earth's natural resources, and renew their commitment to sustainable
development in order to build a secure future for the planet and its people.
"There is mounting evidence that Earth's natural resources are being depleted
and destroyed, due mainly to unsustainable patterns of consumption and
production, "said Mr. Desai. "For too long,
environmentalists and industrialists alike have focused on a false trade-off
between environmental protection and economic growth. Sustainable development
recognizes that economic well-being, social development, and environmental
stewardship are interconnected and must be addressed together." The United
Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will take place August
26 - September 4 in Johannesburg, South Africa, will be the largest meeting
ever held on environmental issues and sustainable development. Tens of
thousands of government delegates and other participants are expected to
attend, including heads of State and Government, business leaders, and leaders
of non-governmental organizations. Participants will assess global progress on
implementing the blueprint of sustainable development - Agenda 21 - that was
agreed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, and produce new commitments for
action. "Problems such as global warming, water shortages, deforestation, and
desertification continue," Mr. Desai said. "The Johannesburg Summit aims to
tackle these threats to our future by making the idea of sustainable
development a global reality. The Rio Earth Summit created the roadmap for
sustainable development, Agenda 21. Johannesburg is about putting that plan
into action." "The century ahead will see greater changes than any era in
human history, as the world's population grows apace, and ever greater strains
are put on the Earth's natural resources," Mr. Desai concluded. "The decisions
taken at the Johannesburg Summit will help determine the road we take forward,
and whether we leave a better world for future generations."

19) POLITICAL AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY VIPS GATHER AT U.N.
TO URGE WORLD LEADER ATTENDANCE AT SUMMIT

NEW
YORK-- Susan Sarandon, Alicia Silverstone, Kevin
Bacon, Patrick Stewart, Joe Pantoliano and Others Voice Concern for Future The
Earth Communications Office (ECO), Hollywood's voice for the environment,
co-hosted a press conference with the Earth Day Network this morning at the
United Nations, featuring prominent U.S. politicians, actors, musicians,
business leaders, and environmental groups. The event was designed to urge
world leaders to commit publicly to attending the UN-sponsored World Summit on
Sustainable Development scheduled for late August and early September 2002 in
Johannesburg, South Africa. The UN World Earth Summit in September was
designed to implement Agenda 21, a comprehensive plan for achieving
sustainable development, adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. Thus far,
the commitment from world leaders to attend has been poor, with only four
nations reporting plans to attend, the United States not among them. Attendees
at today's press conference included Actor/Activists Susan Sarandon, Alicia
Silverstone, Kevin Bacon, Patrick Stewart, Joe Pantoliano,
Joshua Jackson, artist Peter Max, Congressman Christopher Shays, Andrew
Cuomo, and U.N. spokespeople, among others. At the podium, the panel members
spoke passionately about the future and the need for a more concrete
commitment from global decision makers. "From the day my son was born, I've
been concerned about leaving a legacy of an unhealthy planet and I continue to
be concerned about my children's future," said actor and ECO Board member
Kevin Bacon. Bacon also participated in today's event to help launch ECO's new
Climate Star print ad campaign which features provocative photos of Bacon and
actress wife Kyra Sedgwick (among other celebrities) in an attempt to draw
magazine readers' attention to the issue of global warming. The Earth
Communications Office (ECO), "Hollywood's voice for the environment," is a
non-profit organization that uses the power of the entertainment and
communications industries to deliver messages about the earth to the general
public on a global level. The board is made up of Hollywood's premier talent
in the film, television, music, advertising and public relations industries.
ECO's public service campaigns -- which are distributed internationally --
inspire viewers to think about what they can do to help heal our planet. ECO's
campaigns are seen and heard by more than a billion people every year in movie
theaters, on television, and on the radio.

20) PLANET'S HEALTH SOURCE OF MUCH DEBATE

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - Life on the planet and the ills that
plague it will be marked on Earth Day on Monday with "green events" planned by
governments and activists around the globe. But as the 32nd Earth Day on April
22 is commemorated ahead of a huge U.N. summit on poverty, development and the
environment to be held in Johannesburg later this year, there is no "green
consensus" on the state of the planet's health. Scientists, writers,
think-tanks and pressure groups are deeply divided over the fate of the
world's ecosystems. The forecasts range from the apocalyptic to the
relentlessly upbeat. Some scenarios are nightmarish: states go to war over
scarce supplies of fresh water, deserts expand as
fertile soil is depleted, and tropical island paradises vanish beneath the
waves as polar ice-caps melt because of global warming (news - web sites).
Others envision a better life for all as human ingenuity heals nature's wounds
and economic growth lifts hundreds of millions of people out of gut-wrenching
poverty. Governments disagree over what strategies are needed. The European
Union (news - web sites) has bound itself legally to the Kyoto treaty on
cutting the pollution blamed for global warming, which the United States has
rejected on cost grounds -- opening up one of the biggest diplomatic rifts in
the industrialized world.

COMING
ANARCHIES...

A walk
down the mean streets of the mega-cities of the developing world such as Lagos
or Jakarta, with their creaking infrastructure, open sewers, limited supplies
of clean water and soaring populations, will do little to boost faith in the
future. Many analysts link environmental problems, such as urban decay and
overcrowding in poor countries, to crime and to threats to national and global
security. In February 1994, Robert D. Kaplan wrote a famous essay in The
Atlantic Monthly entitled "The Coming Anarchy: How Scarcity, Crime,
Overpopulation, Tribalism, and Disease are Destroying
the Social Fabric of the Planet." "...in Africa and the Third World," Kaplan
writes, "man is challenging nature far beyond its limits, and nature is now
beginning to take its revenge." According to Kaplan, social ills and conflict
in coming years will often be rooted in environmental problems. "It is time to
understand the environment for what it is: the national-security issue of the
early twenty-first century," he asserts. "The...impact of surging populations,
spreading disease, deforestation and soil erosion, water depletion, air
pollution, and, possibly, rising sea levels in critical, overcrowded regions
like the Nile Delta and Bangladesh -- developments that will prompt mass
migrations and, in turn, incite group conflicts -- will be the core foreign
policy challenge." Kaplan sees environmental disputes
fusing with ethnic and historical ones, creating instability along the Danube river
between former Communist states such as Romania and Slovakia. "A war could
erupt between Egypt and Ethiopia over Nile River water," he writes. Much of
what Kaplan says draws on the writing of Thomas Homer-Dixon, an influential
University of Toronto professor who has linked water shortages in China,
population growth in sub-Saharan Africa and other ecological challenges to
conflict.

...AND
COMING PROSPERITIES?

Some
scholars look at the evidence and snort "nonsense." Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish
statistician, has caused waves among academics and activists with his book
"The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World." "The
air in the developed world is becoming less, not more, polluted; people in the
developing countries are not starving more, but less," he writes. Lomborg
argues that pressure groups such as Greenpeace have hijacked the environmental
debate, promoting "doom and gloom" scenarios that have little basis in reality
when carefully measured and scrutinized. He points out, for example, that the
air in London is cleaner today than it was in 1585, when cheap coal with
a high sulfur content was used in private
households. Water as a source of conflict?
Doubtful, argues Lomborg, who cites one study of 412 international crises
between 1918 and 1994 that found only seven had water as even a partial cause.
Declining forests? "Globally, forest cover has remained remarkably stable over
the second half of the twentieth century...global forest cover increased from
30.04 percent of the global land area in 1950 to 30.89 percent in 1994."

MIXED
LEGACIES

The
temperate forests of North America and Europe have expanded over the past 40
years, while far more biologically diverse tropical rain forests are
disappearing -- though Lomborg says not at the pace claimed by many. The
reasons for both deforestation and reforestation are many and the impact on
humanity has been mixed. In the Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia, for
example, the forests almost doubled in size between the end of World War Two
and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, while neighboring Lithuania's
grew by around 50 percent. But this was because the Soviet authorities
ruthlessly collectivized agriculture and deported hundreds of thousands of
peasants to Siberia in the 1940s and 1950s, leaving empty farms that were
eventually reclaimed by the surrounding wilderness.

MASS
EXCTINCTIONS

There
is also great debate about the pace and extent of species loss, with Lomborg
saying that we will lose about 0.7 percent of all species over the next 50
years -- a conclusion hotly disputed by many. Some scientists claim that we
are on the verge of the greatest extinction since the dinosaurs died off 65
million years ago, with tens thousands of species threatened, because of
habitat destruction, global warming and pollution. Certainly, the prospects
for many animals look grim, even if for some they have improved substantially
in recent years. Elephants were killed across Africa at a terrifying rate for
the ivory in their tusks in the 1970s and 1980s before a global ban on the
ivory trade stemmed the slaughter, allowing populations to stabilize and in
some countries rebound again. Africa's white rhinos were almost extinct a
century ago but now number several thousand and their numbers are climbing. It
the few hundred mountain gorillas left on the lush, volcanic hills that form
the border of Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo may not last long in the face of
political instability and pressure on their habitat from soaring local
populations.

Earth
Day was founded in 1970 in the United States by Gaylord Nelson, a Senator from
Wisconsin, to promote conservation and environmental issues. More than three
decades later, the jury is out on the state of the planet, and only the future
will determine if the prophets of doom or the Lomborg are right.

BRUSSELS - A global
summit in August aimed at saving the environment while pulling people out of
poverty faces failure unless preparatory talks are accelerated, the European
Union's top environment official said yesterday. Around 60,000
delegates, including many heads of state, are expected to attend the August
26-September 4 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.
It falls 10 years after the Rio Earth summit that spawned a range of major
environmental treaties. "The preparation process is not going as well as we
would have liked. We still have a lot of work," EU Environment Commissioner
Margot Wallstrom told a news conference. She said the world had neglected to
live up to promises made at Rio on issues such as climate change and nature
protection. She warned that Johannesburg would also fail unless governments
agreed to adopt a detailed action plan. "I am not sure if we will succeed in
Johannesburg. "We
have to set realistic but ambitious targets. It's up to the EU to show
leadership...Our challenge is to produce an action plan with concrete
deliverables," Wallstrom said. The summit should set a 2015 deadline to halve
the number of people without access to clean water and electricity and do this
in an environmentally sound way by using river basin management schemes and
renewable power, she said. A declaration with these goals, which would have to
be largely drafted before heads of state arrived at the summit, should be
accompanied by measures on how to reach the targets. "This is what was missing
at Rio, implementation," she said. The private sector should be involved in
partnerships to help implement the goals, Wallstrom said, defying critics
among green campaigners who have accused richer nations of planning to 'privatise'
aid and environmental schemes at the summit. Wallstrom denied that the United
States, which pulled out of the Kyoto climate change pact, which came out of
the Rio summit, was acting as the main brake on progress, as some activists
have suggested. "It is difficult to identify one culprit...It is not as simple
as blaming the United States. For a long time they didn't like to go into
concrete things and promise financial resources, but slowly we are coming
closer," she said. But in a warming shot at Washington, she added: "It would
be very unfortunate if the U.S. decided once more to stay out of the process."

Protesters at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg later this year are
likely to confront a massive police and army presence. This is central to the
security plan drawn up by the Johannesburg World Summit Company which next
week will table the document at the inter-ministerial session in parliament.
The summit, which opens on August 26 and concludes on September 4, will bring
together more than 130 heads of state from around the world. More than 60 000
people are expected to attend events related to the summit, such as the
non-governmental conferences. Gatherings of world leaders have in the past
been marred by mass protests, which have turned violent resulting in deaths.
The justice, crime prevention cluster will scrutinise the plan to ensure that
the security strategy has provisions to handle crisis situations. The cluster
involves the safety and security, defence, finance and intelligence
departments. Although the directors-general of the related departments have
approved the security plan for the summit the ministers have yet to scrutinise
the plan and approve it. Based on the outcome of next week's meeting
government would mobilise state forces. Resources would be combined to control
the expected demonstrators from anti-globalisation organisations, including
anti-Aids groups and environmentalists.

Gauteng residents
have already offered more than 1 200 rooms to the Johannesburg World Summit
Company (Jowsco) for a unique Homestays campaign that encourages residents to
let rooms in their homes. Moss Mashishi, CEO of Jowsco, said the concept was
similar to that used at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and made available private
homes "once the traditional facilities have reached full capacity". Evaluation
criteria and a costing scheme, as set by the SA Tourism Grading Council in
cooperation with Jowsco and various hospitality industry-related institutions,
will be provided to applicants by June. Homeowners who apply will be given a
certificate of competency if they meet basic minimum standards guaranteeing
participants a comfortable stay in SA. Wayne Riddell, CEO of Global
Conferences DMC cautions that the Homestays campaign must not be seen as a
get-rich-quick scheme. "Guidance on the costing for homes will be based on the
set criteria, facilities in the house and the distance from the meeting venue.
"No doubt, homes that are close to meeting venues such as the Expo
Centre and Sandton will be considered first and will be based on the demands
of participants," he said. The policy and operations guidelines - including
pricing - will be published at the end of next month. Approved homes will be
posted on the database for onward selling to participants, with homeowners
receiving training and information about the summit. As Sandton and
surrounding areas brace for the influx of about 60 000 expected participants,
accommodation facilities in the region are fast reaching capacity levels. To
date, a total of 53 000 beds in traditional establishments have been
catalogued in Greater Johannesburg.

Building bridges to
cross borders in global community FROM the riots at the World Trade
Organisation conference in Seattle three years ago to the bloody
confrontations at the Group of Eight Summit in Genoa last year, the "anti-globalisation"
brigade has made its mark. What has not caught the
headlines, however, has been the efforts by multinational companies to work
more closely with government, local communities and "civil society"
organisations such as CARE International and Oxfam, in tackling poverty in
developing countries. Several factors account for their move. One is fear of
losing the argument about the corporate sector's global role and of finding
governments imposing more development policy demands on them as a result.
Asked recently why his company had become so involved with civil society
groups, the former chief executive of one of the world's largest natural
resource companies said: "Because they have the capacity to destroy our
business." Clare Short, Minister for International Development, today releases
a report on co-operation between governments, businesses and aid agencies with
local communities in developing countries. The report on these tri-sector
partnerships examines how more than 100 multinationals worked with community
groups and the World Bank on 29 pilot development projects in 20 countries.
The aim was to take a hard look at the lessons to be learned. Set up in 1998
under the name Business Partners for Development, the three-year project
involved corporate giants such as Anglo-Dutch oil firm
Shell, utilities group Vivendi Environnement of France and mining
company Anglo American. It was mainly financed by the World Bank, Britain's
Department for International Development and the companies themselves. Shell
in particular has good reason to know how much damage a company can suffer at
the hands of protesters. Its reputation came under sustained fire in 1995,
first from environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace because of its allegedly
irresponsible handling of the disposal of the Brent Spar oil rig and when the
Nigerian government executed civil-rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight
colleagues. Critics argued that, given its overwhelming economic weight in
Nigeria, Shell should have done more to protect Saro-Wiwa. They attacked its
insensitivity towards the environmental and social impact of drilling
operations and claimed its corporate culture was contributing to the
impoverishment and the denial of minimal civil rights to people living around
some of the world's most profitable oil fields. Its positive response to these
challenges-drew public praise two years later from Sir Geoffrey Chandler, a
board member of human rights group Amnesty International, although today's
report says that "in the Niger Delta, a general lack of trust between
communities and oil companies still runs deep". Sir Mark Moody-Stuart,
chairman of Shell from 1998 until he retired last year and now chairman of
Business Action for Sustainable Development, says firms cannot restrict
themselves to focusing on narrow short-term issues of shareholder value. "I
believe very strongly that in the end if a corporation is perceived by society
- and that includes our customers and employees - as not being a useful
contributor to society, that can be a real threat to its existence," he says.
He adds that multinationals cannot operate successfully in a world in which
they are distrusted, not least because they need to fulfil more than formal
regulatory requirements. "They need an informal social licence to operate," he
says. This in turn implies a relationship with local communities where they
exist or a role in helping to build communities. "For companies to get
involved in community building is, of course, a very delicate issue," he says.
But such involvement can also provide early warning of trouble, helping
companies modify their corporate strategies and also to reduce threats to a
particular investment from, say, vandalism or sabotage.

PUTTING Partnering to
Work, the report on projects studied by Business Partners for Development,
says partnerships between business, government,
civil society groups and local communities can promote sustainable development
in poor countries by bringing together expertise from each sector. It also has
to be recognised that such links are not always the best option. Ethnic and
religious tensions can make partnerships unworkable, the report says. It
argues that partners must have a clear idea of what they want out of the
arrangement. Managers on the ground tend to be focused on delivering a
profitable investment, so "from a business perspective, a project seen as
purely philanthropic is unlikely to gain the institutional buy-in and
commitment necessary to persevere through the ups and downs of the process".
Michael Warner, who co-ordinated the natural resources projects for BPD, says
that what has emerged from the three-year trial has been a new model for
corporate involvement in sustainable development. Partnership, he argues, not
only allows each sector to bring its particular strengths to the table, the
project management skills of business and the local knowledge of aid agencies,
but also gives business a way of escaping long-term commitments it may not
really want. Running hospitals and schools for example, something
multinationals often find themselves contractually committed to delivering in
return for a licence to supply water, drill or dig,
can be an open-ended liability often requiring skills that companies do not
have. Better for the companies if these responsibilities
are shared with partners who have the expertise. Often better for the
communities, too, Warner says, because if a company pulls out of a project or
region, the social infrastructure may collapse.

Delegates at the
third meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom III) for the World Summit
on Sustainable Development (WSSD) on 25 March to 5 April in New York failed to
achieve their objective of producing the first draft of a 'review' document
for WSSD, instead asking the PrepCom Chair Emil Salim (Indonesia) to come up
with a new text for discussion at PrepCom IV in May. Many environmental groups
blamed the US, Canada, Australia and the oil exporting nations for "blocking
meaningful targets and timetables" and reiterated concerns that WSSD would be
subordinated to the multilateral trade regime.

FAILURE BLAMED ON
LACK OF COMMITMENT AND INADEQUATE GUIDANCE

Following the
delegates' failure to agree on a draft text for further action to be discussed
at WSSD, informal consultations will be held in the lead-up to PrepCom IV,
including three days of discussions immediately prior to the meeting. At the
request of the G-77/China and several other delegations, the Chair will
compile an action-oriented and concise draft document for PrepCom IV, based on
these informal consultations and incorporating the concerns articulated during
PrepCom III. With this setback so close to the main event, many critics
pointed to a lack of high-level political commitment and inadequate
preparations of government delegations. Others also expressed frustration with
the insufficient guidance on process, content and direction of the talks
provided by the PrepCom Bureau, as well as logistical and time constraints.
Many participants furthermore criticised the more than 100-page long
compilation text put forward by Chair Salim after the first week of the
meeting as unwieldy and difficult to negotiate. Some, however, cautioned that
the difficulties apparent at PrepCom III were an inevitable stage in any
multilateral negotiating process that had also plagued preparations for the
1992 Earth Summit in Rio.

TRADE ISSUES IN THE DRAFT TEXT - WHERE AND HOW?

Discussions on how
and where to include trade-related issues in the draft text continued at
PrepCom III mainly in the context of Sections V (Sustainable Development in a
Globalizing World) and IX (Means of Implementation) of the Chair's text. While
the G-77 proposed general references to subsidies and trade barriers in the
Introduction with more specific points in the Sections V and IX, focusing in
particular on market access, special and differential treatment and the
elimination of trade barriers, the US preferred trade references to be
restricted to encouraging WTO Members to implement the outcomes of Doha. For
its part, the EU emphasised technical assistance and preferential market
access for least-developed countries, proposing that such reference should be
included in Section IX. In the end, delegates reached a tentative agreement to
move trade references from Section V to a subsection on "trade" in Section IX,
leading some NGOs to question how trade references would link to other
sections of the paper if trade was merely included as a means of
implementation.

CIVIL SOCIETY
CRITICISES UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT OF TRADE AGENDA

At PrepCom III, many
civil society groups at PrepCom III expressed concern regarding governments'
seemingly unconditional support of the Doha Agenda agreed to at the Fourth WTO
Ministerial Conference last year. WWF criticised governments for not making
any efforts to explore how WSSD could complement the Doha mandate on
sustainable development and environment, instead restricting themselves to
political statements supporting the implementation of the Doha mandate. These
sentiments were echoed by the Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED)
which criticised the "unconditional support" for the new trade round, even
among developing countries (G-77), which ANPED claimed would "seriously
undermine the efforts to implement a sustainability agenda". Similarly,
Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) remarked the lack of references in
the Chair's text to potential negative impacts of economic globalisation on
wider society, sustainability and the environment, accusing governments of
"ignoring civil society's concerns about the trade liberalisation process".
NGOs furthermore reiterated calls for a clarification of the relationship
between multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and WTO rules in the
context of WSSD, which they say should not be left to WTO Members to decide.
[A clarification of the MEA-WTO relationship is part of the mandated
negotiations launched at Doha.] In a joint statement by FOEI, Greenpeace, WWF,
TWN, ANPED and the Sierra Club, the NGOs called on governments to reaffirm the
authority and autonomy of MEAs and to clarify that "the objectives, principles
and provisions of MEAs must not be subordinated to WTO rules". While singling
out the EU as the only government at PrepCom III to bring forward any concrete
trade-related proposals, such as references to the promotion of trade in
organic products, WWF expressed disappointment that the EU did not raise the
MEA-WTO issue despite pushing for its inclusion in the new round of trade
talks and circulating a controversial paper outlining preliminary ideas on the
MEA-WTO relationship at the last negotiating session of the WTO Committee on
Trade and Environment.

NGOS WARY OF
'PARTNERSHIP' DISCUSSIONS

Delegates at PrepCom
III also began informal discussions on partnerships -- the so-called "type 2"
outcomes of WSSD -- which are meant to focus on concrete and specific
initiatives to strengthen the implementation of Agenda 21. While generally
agreeing that these partnerships should be of a voluntary and self-organising
nature, many delegates and NGOs suggested establishing a framework that would
ensure their alignment with the economic, social and environmental dimensions
of sustainable development. NGOs furthermore reiterated previously voiced
concerns that such initiatives should not be a substitute for concrete action
by governments, but should rather aim to reinforce the implementation of Type
1 outcomes. Efforts to formulate a draft text for WSSD and informal
consultations on partnerships will continue at PrepCom IV, to be held at the
ministerial level in Bali, Indonesia, on 27 May to 7 June (with three days of
informal discussion prior to the meeting). Delegates will furthermore aim to
finalise a political declaration that will be endorsed by heads of State and
Government attending the Summit on 26 September to 4 August in Johannesburg,
South Africa.

Speaking to the press
in Brasilia Wednesday, British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said it
would be "disastrous" if unrealistic goals were set for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development. "Do not set impossible demands that can't possibly be
met, and then the people say it's a failure," he said, adding that many
nongovernmental organizations are already setting unattainable summit demands.
According to Prescott, it is already too late to reach some of the goals
proposed for the Johannesburg event, including partnerships between
government, civil society and the private sector, as well as an energy
program. Prescott also said he is concerned that, following the Sept. 11
attacks on New York and Washington, the environment now has a low priority as
the United States and its allies continue their anti-terrorism campaign Every
minute in Africa a person dies from water-related problems, and 1 billion
people worldwide are living in poverty, Prescott added, calling such problems
as "terrible as terrorism." Prescott, who was in Brazil to meet with President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso and other senior officials on what common positions
they will take to the summit, said his government is working to establish a
global alliance to fight poverty, increase access to energy and water and work
on other issues, particularly those affecting developing countries. According
to Brazil, however, concrete actions and deadlines are needed for
environmental protection, not new promises to fight poverty. "We are not
going to resolve the problem of poverty with international philanthropy," said
Brazilian Environment Minister Jose Carlos Carvalho. Brazil is afraid
developed countries will only want to focus on poverty at the summit, instead
of more pressing topics such as global warming, a notion which with Prescott
disagreed, noting that at the 1992 summit in Rio de Janeiro, both poverty and
environmental protection were discussed. Representatives of 12 Latin American
countries met this week in the Brazilian city of Curitiba to share experiences
and issue recommendations for policy-makers going to the Johannesburg summit.
In addition to calling for more dialogue between local authorities and civil
society, participants suggested that when developing public transportation
systems, authorities should plan for the long term, and also recommended that
it is important to clarify the responsibility of municipalities when it comes
to garbage collection, particularly toxic waste

Governments in all parts of the world and international organizations should
help developing countries upgrade their research and application of
technology, so as to enhance their capacity to realize sustainable
development, a Chinese science official has suggested. "Developing countries
are in need of new technology to tackle such difficulties as lower economic
levels, natural resource shortages and environmental pollution," Deng Nan,
vice-minister of science and technology, said at a United Nations (UN) Forum
for New and Emerging Technologies and Sustainable Development, which opened
yesterday in Beijing. China, in the process of industrialization,
urbanization and modernization, faces challenges in the areas of population,
natural resources and the environment. The Chinese Government attaches great
importance to taking these issues into account, while at the same time
striving to reach its goals of developing the economy, reducing poverty and
achieving prosperity, said Deng. The UN forum was held to stimulate
government, science and business sectors to work together to apply new
technologies for sustainable development - a strategy put forward at the UN
Congress on the Environment and Development in 1992 in Brazil. The strategy
spells out ways to ensure global economic development in harmony with human
beings and the environment. The forum is an important preparation for the
World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will take place in August in
Johannesburg, South Africa. In his welcoming speech at the forum, Minister of
Science and Technology Xu Guanhua said the Chinese Government is actively
making commitments to protect the global environment. Xu said China has made
great efforts to use clean energy for industrial production, conserve land
resources and minimize air pollution. The country's efficiency of energy
utilization has been increased from 25 per cent in 1980 to 34 per cent. Nitin
Desai, UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs and
secretary-general of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, said new
technologies such as nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology,
are driving forces in the maintenance of sustainable development. He stressed
that new mechanisms are needed to enhance international scientific and
technological co-operation, in order to better apply these technologies in
promoting sustainable development. Desai said China has made great progress in
implementing sustainable development, especially in increasing its efficiency
in the use of energy. He agreed that industrialized nations should do more to
speed up the transfer of technology to developing countries for the common
goal of sustainable global development.

Johannesburg --
Stakeholders in the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
agree that it will be a unique opportunity to improve the plight of thousands
of millions of people who do not have access to water, sanitation and energy.
When WSSD offers such promise, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans,
International Environmental, and Scientific Affairs John Turner said, the
summit should not be squandered in revisiting old arguments. Turner spoke at
the WSSD Outcomes Conference sponsored April 9 in Johannesburg by the U.S. and
South African Governments. More than 100 representatives of government,
business and civil society attended the dialogue. They shared a broad
agreement that the Johannesburg summit, which will attract at least 160 heads
of state, should do more than produce rhetoric and reiteration of familiar
positions. "The United States and the government of South Africa are more
interested in action and deliverables for the people of Africa, the people of
South Africa, and around the world," said Turner in his opening remarks. He
also emphasized the important role the private sector will play in achieving
success. "If we do not have the involvement and the engagement and creativity
and resources and the input of people like yourselves
in the private sector, NGOs and civil society," Turner said, "then we will
miss a great opportunity this fall at the summit." The U.S. government looks
forward to the August 26-September 4 meeting as an opportunity to find new
answers to longstanding problems of poverty and development, Turner said, "a
new approach for how we're going to raise the hopes and lives of people here
in Africa and around the world." Turner identified economic growth, social
development, and environmental stewardship as the three pillars of
sustainability. But he emphasized that donor governments need to rely on the
private sector to achieve economic expansion. "The private sector, investment
capital and trade and building domestic capital is
the real source of economy," Turner told his audience. While the Bush
administration will count on the power of the private sector to generate
economic growth, President Bush has also made a commitment to significant
increases in U.S. government support for foreign assistance. Despite that,
Turner said, governments cannot uplift countries on their own. "It is people
like yourselves who need to help us now flesh out where are the opportunities,
how to implement, who are the players, what are the resources we need," he
said. The participants in the Johannesburg meeting staked the greatest
significance in two main themes -- water and energy. Turner said advance
discussions with various governments have revealed that water purification,
food, forestry, oceans and biodiversity are other important matters of
concern, "but health, water, and energy seem to be a coalescing theme." South
Africans recall the failure of the U.N. World Conference
Against Racism in Durban last year when delegates foundered on an
agreement. With that memory fresh in mind, participants in the April 9 meeting
repeatedly asked Turner what would become the most contentious issues at the
Johannesburg summit. He suggested that the linkage between good governance and
sustainability could become a controversial debate because sustainability has
long been considered primarily in the environmental context. "I think (good
governance) is extremely important for Africa, as it is elsewhere --
anti-corruption, transparency, rule of law, fair judiciary, good contractual
law, fair permitting, property rights and so forth." Social welfare issues are
closely tied to good governance, Turner said. "Our President feels very deeply
about health and education as very important paths to sustainability and of
course the whole area of good governance." The South African government team
was chaired by Dr. Crispian Olver, the director general at the Department of
Environmental and Tourism Affairs, who said the WSSD will be "a huge event for
us in South Africa." Olver continued, "It is going to set out, we hope, a
number of specific outcomes that are going to have a major impact on us in the
developing world and on the lives of the poorest and most marginalized people
on this planet."

29) NEPAD TO GUIDE AFRICAN FORTUNES AT WSSD

Africa's widely endorsed recovery plan - Nepad - will play a key role in
guiding the continent's prospects and pushing ahead an African agenda at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg in August.
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa said this during his
address to the South Africa-United States multi stake dialogue on the outcome
of the forthcoming United Nation's largest development summit at Sandton in
Johannesburg, yesterday. Private sector heavyweights, donor bodies, civil
society and government representatives from both nations attended the one-day
meeting that focused on development and the sustainability of energy and
water. Minister Moosa added that the ambitious plan that sought to reform
growth, had the potential to unlock economic growth and eradicate poverty,
while sustaining development on the continent. He said it could also serve as
a model for other developing countries. 'It (Nepad) is a pledge by African
leaders and governments, based on a common vision and commitment, to eradicate
poverty and place our countries, individually and collectively on the path of
sustained growth and development,' he stressed. Recently, African leaders,
including President Thabo Mbeki, began a process in Nigeria of putting flesh
to the plan that would be presented to the world's eight industrialised
nations (G8) meeting in Canada before returning it to the summit. The plan has
been widely approved by the world's key influential leaders, international
financial and political institutions as a viable African lifeline deserving
support. In his recent visit to South Africa, G8 chairperson and Canadian
Prime Minister Jean Chretien threw his weight behind the plan, saying it would
receive full attention at the meeting of G8 leaders. On the outcome of the
summit, Minister Moosa said the more than 60 000 delegates should come up with
concrete 'action-oriented' programmes that would contribute to good relations
between the developed and developing nations. 'We are not looking for an
unequal partnership between the resource-rich and the resource-poor but a
symbiotic relationship to entrench common values and realise common goals
toward the achievement of local and global development. ''It is crucial that a
global deal is supported by a programme of action, with clear targets,
timeframes and delivery mechanisms to be delivered through a series of
partnerships at the international, regional, national and local levels,'
emphasised Mr Moosa. It is expected that the
African leaders and civil society groupings will call for the continent's
development, given the backlog brought along by colonization, civil conflicts,
HIV/Aids and poverty. At their recent meeting at the Ethiopian capital Addis
Ababa, the continent's foreign ministers vowed to speak with one voice at the
summit.

UNITED
NATIONS - The third preparatory meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development ended Friday night with the lack of an anticipated agreement on
consensus documents for the event prompting organizers to decide to meet again
ahead of a planned ministerial meeting in May. Civil society
representatives said the process was sabotaged and promised to take their
fight to the ministerial meeting. Emil Salim, the chairman of this preparatory
committee, said that as of Friday morning, two of three working groups had not
completed their work. The working groups deal with oceans, energy, the
needs of small island states and Africa. The committee started its work two
weeks ago with a "chairman's paper" Salim issued in February. While the
unofficial document covers a wide variety of issues, Salim said when the
meeting began, "The important point is that we have a focus." That
focus, he said, is on practical steps in three fields -- poverty eradication,
changes in unsustainable patterns of consumption and production and protection
and management of natural resources -- plus special initiatives for Africa and
small island nations. Salim's goal was to have the paper serve as the basis
for two consensus documents on commitments nations are willing to make and on
how to implement those commitments, with those papers transmitted to the
fourth and final preparatory meeting, a ministerial conference that was slated
for May 27 to June 7 in Bali, Indonesia, but that will now begin May 24.The
summit, which will be held in Johannesburg Aug. 26 to Sept. 4, will be the
10-year follow-up to the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio
de Janeiro. Examining the implementation and future of the consensus
document from the Rio conference, Agenda 21, is the purpose of these
preparatory meetings. Salim said that between now and the session in Bali, two
of the committee vice chairs, from Japan and Canada, will start collecting
ideas on the political declaration that will be the focus of the Bali
ministerial meeting. All three documents are to be the basis for the
Johannesburg summit. The Group of 77, European Union and United States all
endorsed the decision, saying more time is needed to study a document that
started at 21 pages and is now 140 pages with suggested changes and additions.
Milos Alcalay of Venezuela, speaking on behalf of the G-77 and China, and
Oyarzun Marchesi of Spain, speaking for the EU, called for a document that
would be "precise and action-oriented." Nitin Desai, the undersecretary
general for economic and social affairs, said before the final meeting, "The
test of a negotiating process is not simply to reach an agreement but whether
that agreement constitutes a step forward and meets the challenge to bring a
momentum" to the summit. Given that the meeting was far from reaching a
consensus, it was necessary to come up with extra time to work of the
documents. Adding three days to the Bali meeting made sense, delegates
said, but some developing countries worried about the costs. Sonia
Leonce of Saint Lucia said adding three days to the Bali meeting is "an unfair
burden" on poorer countries. "It is a dangerous precedent to take
negotiations out of New York," she added. Some of the richer developed
countries said they will help fund the participation of such countries. Civil
society groups were highly critical of many governments both for trying to
reverse the Rio consensus and for permitting the "privatization" of their
responsibilities. Nongovernmental organizations placed blame on the
United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and the OPEC members of the G-77 group
of developing states. William Pace of the Legal Instruments Caucus said
OPEC "has completely hijacked the G-77, and no effective energy instruments
are being allowed to emerge." Besides the active role of these countries
in undermining Rio, NGOs also complained there was no strong opposition coming
from any "like-minded" group of states defending Rio, such as the EU. Daniel
Mittler of Friends of the Earth International said the United States and OPEC
are "deliberately trying to wreck this conference,
[and] no one has dared to stand up to these wreckers." One means of
implementation under discussion involves partnerships among governments, U.N.
agencies, civil society and business. In the final meeting, the United
States praised "the multitude of partnerships," but NGOs criticized this
development. Craig Bennett of Friends of the Earth said the text's references
to "private-public partnerships" are "essentially opportunities given to
corporations to deliver the implement of sustainable development. ... Do they
really have the interest of sustainable development at heart? ... We are
talking about corporations taking advantage of global trade yet not willing to
be accountable globally. ... More than a missed opportunity, this could be
going backwards from where we were 10 years ago."

UNITED NATIONS -
Environmental groups last week accused the United States and oil exporting
nations of trying to gut a global action plan for environmentally friendly
development to be adopted at a U.N. summit in South Africa. Organizers of the
World Summit on Sustainable Development, opening in Johannesburg in August,
acknowledged the meeting could fall far short of what they had hoped, but said
it could still succeed if governments wanted. Greenpeace International accused
Washington of trying to use the conference to dismantle "more than three
decades of international efforts to protect the environment, enhance social
justice and ensure economic opportunities for all." "The United States' only
vision is that this planet should be run like a business park," Greenpeace's
Remi Parmentier told a news conference at U.N. headquarters. Daniel Mittler of
Friends of the Earth International blamed Washington - with help from Canada,
Australia and OPEC countries including Saudi Arabia and Venezuela - for "two
weeks of chaotic negotiations resulting in a long document, strong on
platitudes but weak on substance." Mittler urged governments preparing for the
Johannesburg conference to "chuck the fluff" from the action plan as it now
stood and drastically rewrite it. A U.S. official dismissed the criticisms,
saying Washington was working hard to make the conference a success and shared
the groups' desire for a healthy environment "although we may disagree on the
tactics to get there." "You can have a safe and healthy environment and
develop at the same time. We are a good example of that," said the official,
speaking on condition of anonymity. "We also produce a lot of pollution but we
are working hard to reduce it."

10 YEARS AFTER EARTH
SUMMIT

The 10-day summit
opening Aug. 26 is expected to draw thousands from government, business and
interest groups to Johannesburg along with delegations from most of the United
Nations' 189 member-nations. It was timed to fall 10 years after the Earth
Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which adopted "Agenda 21," a blueprint for balancing
the world's economic and social needs with its environmental resources.
Organizers say part of the problem is that, even at this stage, they have a
hard time saying precisely what the conference is intended to achieve. U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has described it as an environmental conference
teamed with a strategy meeting on how to achieve broad development goals set
out by the world body at its 2000 millennium summit. The millennium goals
include halving the number of people living on less than a dollar a day, and
reversing the AIDS epidemic by the year 2015. But many others see it as far
broader - a summit in search of a global blueprint for altering the sum
total of human activity so that it no longer
depletes the world's resources. "Sustainable development is about human
activity and the Earth. It must include every aspect of life," said Carlos
Rivera, an activist participating in summit preparations as a representative
of young people. The environmentalists' criticisms surfaced at the close of
the third of four two-week preparatory meetings leading up to Johannesburg.
One more preparatory session opens in Bali, Indonesia, on May 27. While
preparations have been conducted by low-level envoys to date, cabinet
ministers have been invited to Bali. The action plan began as a 21-page
document drafted by Emil Salim, a former Indonesian environment minister who
is chairing the preparatory meetings. By Friday it had ballooned to more than
100 pages, and delegates were far from agreement on a final version, Salim
said.

Boosting sustainable energy sources in developing countries is among the major
challenges that must be addressed when world leaders meet at the World Summit
on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa this August.
The lack of energy services available for the poor was one of the main issues
discussed during the third session of the Preparatory Committee for WSSD, held
in New York from 25 March to 5 April. "There is now global knowledge
demonstrating that energy systems compatible with sustainable development are
possible if we adopt new cleaner fossil fuel technologies, increase energy
efficiency and shift to more renewable energy," said Mark Malloch Brown,
Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). "That's why
it's crucial for the Johannesburg Summit to produce concrete action on energy
to both address the energy needs of developing countries while mitigating
greenhouse gas emissions globally." Worldwide, two billion people are without
access to electricity, and the same number relies on traditional fuels-such as
firewood, agricultural residues, and dung-for cooking and heating. Over 100
million women spend hours every day gathering firewood, with extra time spent
on cooking with poorly vented stoves. These stoves can have the same adverse
health impacts as smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. The additional hours
also mean that women do not have opportunities for more productive
income-generating activities. Industrialized countries are also facing
heightened energy security issues as oil dependency is projected to grow from
56 percent in 1996 to more than 70 percent by 2010. In addition, present
energy systems based on large-scale infrastructure installations provide
attractive targets for terrorism that contributes to economic and political
instability. UNDP is working on cross-sectoral energy issues in 70 percent of
its country operations. In doing so, it applies an integrated approach to
increase sustainable energy and heat services to meet the overarching
Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty in half by 2015. For
example, UNDP has helped in developing the Mali multifunctional platform, a
diesel driven devise that produces mechanical energy for agricultural
processing, water pumping, electricity for welding and other income-generating
tasks as well as lighting and communication. Women that manage the Mali
platform also earn an income from the sale of energy services. The platform is
already installed in more than 80 villages around Mali and is set to expand
across the West African region. Besides electricity, more efforts are needed
to meet the needs of two billion people that lack clean fuels for cooking and
heating. "The poor do not cook on electricity and unless there are clean fuels
to cook food, boil water and support family subsistence and productive
activities, poverty will not be beaten," said Susan McDade, the UNDP
Sustainable Energy Programme Manager. "Hundreds of millions of women and girls
spend hours carrying firewood, dung and other traditional biofuels everyday.
Women do not carry head loads of candles for light." In order to address these
needs, UNDP is pushing for public private partnerships to increase
availability to Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). LPG is a fossil fuel that can
meet the entire rural heating and cooking needs if increased attention is
devoted to supportive policies, smaller canister size and credit systems to
increase rural access. In addition, UNDP, in partnership with the European
Commission, is convening a high level round table on energy in Brussels from
25-26 April. The meeting aims to respond to country demands for developing
concrete energy outcomes and actions for WSSD. It will also identify roles of
each stakeholder and partnerships that need to be forged for delivering
sustainable energy services.

33) CHINESE VICE-PREMIER MEETS SPECIAL ENVOY OF UN
SECRETARY-GENERAL

Chinese Vice-Premier Wen Jiabao met Friday with Jan Pronk, special envoy of
the secretary-general for the United Nations' World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD). Chinese Vice-Premier Wen Jiabao met Friday with Jan Pronk,
special envoy of the secretary-general for the United Nations' World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD). Wen said that the WSSD, which will be held in
South Africa, is focusing on the issues of global sustainable development, and
is important for all nations of the world. He said that the Chinese government
attaches importance to the summit, and is ready to work with the other nations
to make it successful. He noted that China has made sustainable development
one of its fundamental policies, and has made a great contribution to
environmental protection and sustainable development. However there still
exist factors, which hinder China's sustainable development. The Chinese
government hopes to enhance cooperation within the international community in
this regard. Pronk, also the Netherlands' minister of housing, spatial
planning and the environment, said that the WSSD is the one of most important
meetings on the environment and development fields since the meeting held in
Rio de Janeiro, and China will play its big role in promoting the success of
the summit.

34) U.N. EXCLUDES TIBETAN RIGHTS GROUP FROM CONFERENCE

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. members voted on Friday to exclude a
U.S.-based Tibetan human rights group from a conference this summer on
development and the environment. The Tibet Justice Centre of Berkeley,
California, sought accreditation, along with hundreds of other nongovernmental
groups to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg
from August 26 to September 4. The vote to exclude the organisation was 107-45
with 16 abstentions from countries attending a preparatory conference for the
summit. The U.N. secretariat for the summit had recommended accreditation for
the center along with some 170 other nongovernmental organisations. China,
which occupied Tibet in 1950, lobbied against the group's admission, diplomats
said. It successfully did the same on February 8 when the Washington-based
International Campaign for Tibet applied for accreditation. But last year
Beijing failed to keep Tibetan groups from participating in the World
Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa. Jonathan Margolis, the U.S.
delegation head at the preparatory meeting, said the center was a legitimate
group and well qualified to contribute to the conference. "We find that the
Tibet Justice Centre contributes in the area of women's and children's issues
and the environment," he said. "It is therefore well qualified to be
accredited." Dennis Cusack, president of the centre, said the group had a
12-year track record in environmental and development work, including
negotiations with the Chinese government on water issues. D'Arcy Richardson,
another official from the centre, called the U.N. action "blatant censorship
enforced by China while the rest of the world stands by and watches". Cusack
said representatives of the centre would attend the conference anyway "in
partnership" with other organisations to make sure Tibetan issues were raised.
Chinese troops went to Tibet in 1950. The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual
leader, fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese occupation in
1959. Beijing, which maintains Tibet is part of its territory, says its rule
has raised the standard of living in the region of 2.5 million people. But
critics say it is attempting to eradicate Tibet's culture and unique form of
Buddhism.

35)
NEW SUPPORT FOR RESULT-ORIENTED PARTNERSHIPS AS THIRD ROUND OF JOHANNESBURG
SUMMIT NEGOTIATIONS CONCLUDES

New York, 5 April --
Proposals to launch action-oriented partnership initiatives at the World
Summit on Sustainable Development have gained significant support and momentum
during the third round of preparatory meetings for the Summit, which ended
today after two weeks of talks. The partnership initiatives, between
governments, the private sector and citizen groups, are now seen as a major
part of the outcome of the Summit that can lead to tangible results in
fighting poverty and improving living standards while preserving natural
ecosystems and resources for future generations. The Summit, which will be one
of the largest gatherings of world leaders ever held, will take place in
Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September. The Summit is
expected to provide the impetus for specific actions that will comprise a
major departure from business as usual, towards a new approach that
simultaneously promotes economic growth, social development and environmental
protection. "Countries at the Financing for Development conference in
Monterrey committed themselves to almost $12 billion a year in new resources
for development," Johannesburg Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai stated at
a press conference today. He added, "If we can come up with a good programme
of action, we can get money for new initiatives on such challenges as safe
drinking water and energy." It is estimated that close to a third of the
world's people live on less than two dollars a day and lack access to clean
water, sanitation and electricity. One of the major goals of the Summit is to
meet the needs of these people in an environmentally friendly manner. Desai
called the partnership initiatives "a major innovation" that, along with a
solid action programme, could spark a dramatic increase in efforts to carry
out sustainable development projects and which, by including a wide range of
stakeholders, could vastly improve the quality of those efforts. "The
partnerships can go a long way in raising the resources and expertise that we
need to meet our goals," Desai said, but he cautioned that "the partnership
initiatives are not substitutes for government action or government
responsibilities." The process of negotiations on the action programme has
been challenging, according to Dr. Emil Salim of Indonesia, Chairman of the
Summit's Preparatory Committee. He said governments were still engaged in
determining which proposals are realistic, and added, "What I want is a
programme of action that is deliverable." The negotiated text, he said, would
likely be completed during the next preparatory meeting in Bali, Indonesia, to
be held at the ministerial level from 27 May to 7 June. In addition to the
negotiated action programme, at the Bali meeting governments will hammer out a
political declaration that will be endorsed by the heads of State and
Government that attend the Summit in Johannesburg.

UNITED NATIONS -The
third preparatory meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable Development
entered its final day this morning without a consensus for the summit and with
civil society representatives highly critical of the entire process. Emil
Salim, the chairman of the preparatory committee, said this morning that two
of the three working groups would report to the plenary this afternoon that
they have not completed their work. Those groups deal with oceans,
energy, the needs of small island states and Africa. At the beginning of
the preparatory session last week, Salim said he had hoped to have a completed
"implementation document" ready by today. "I did not succeed in
this," he said, therefore it will be up to the states to decide how to
continue after today. He said he felt "the compilation text is there,"
but it needed cleaning up. According to the original plan, the results
of this meeting were to be presented to a ministerial meeting in Bali,
Indonesia, in May. The summit, which will be held in Johannesburg in August,
will be the 10-year follow-up to the U.N. Conference on Environment and
Development in Rio de Janeiro. Examining the implementation and future of the
consensus document from Rio, Agenda 21, is the focus of this round of
meetings. Civil society groups were highly critical of many governments both
for trying reverse the Rio consensus and permitting
the "privatization" of their responsibilities. Nongovernmental
organizations placed the blame on the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia
and the OPEC members of the G-77 group of developing states. William
Pace of the Legal Instruments Caucus said the preparatory meeting was "failing
very dramatically. It is a failure of leadership, a failure of vision
and a failure of political will." These countries are "undermining
virtually every hope of progressive agreement in implementing Agenda 21 and
having a moderately progressive document for Johannesburg," Pace said.
Besides the active role of these countries in undermining Rio, NGOs also
complained there was no strong opposition coming from any "like-minded" group
of states defending Rio, such as the European Union. Only a few
countries, including Norway, Switzerland and New Zealand, were credited with
making positive contributions, said Michael Strauss of Earth Media. In an
interview yesterday with UN Wire, Salim said, "There are a lot of targets, but
let's have some focus ... Let's once and for all concentrate on poverty,
changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production and this sort of
thing." He added, "What I miss is the deliverables. To improve
this, there should be more deliverables," such as how to provide drinking
water to the 1 billion people who do not have access to it. "I want to have a
product that fits the dignity of heads of state," Salim said. Nongovernmental
organizations, however, saw the process as a surrender
to globalization. Pace said the trend was toward "privatization of
governments' responsibilities in implementation." Paul Tennassee of the
World Confederation of Labor said, "In this conference, they are trying to
evade the whole issue of the social responsibility of corporations and this is
an issue that has to be tackled head on." Sander van Bennekom of
the Northern Alliance for Sustainability said the message was that the World
Trade Organization "is doing a great job. ... If this remains the most
important message of the chairman's paper, then we are giving too much power
to the WTO."

If you were to ask me whether you should attend the Summit, I would suggest
three good reasons:
The first is coherence. Your company has a strong commitment to sustainable
development strategy. We all know that this is about "walking the talk", but
at times your employees, peers and stakeholders also need to hear and see you
"talking the walk". Participation at the most important international meeting
on sustainable development will speak for this commitment. Second, this Summit
is the best platform to present specific initiatives. . There are various ways
in which this can be done, including as a contribution to the UN 'type 2
outcomes'; showcased as an audio-visual presentation in the Virtual
Exhibition; or even presented in a parallel event organized by your company.
Put simply there is an opportunity for recognition of special commitments your
company and your sector have made. Third, the Summit also offers an
opportunity, through numerous side events to form new alliances, make new
beginnings. The WBCSD and Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD)
are planning a number of such events whose development you can monitor in this
newsletter and on our respective web sites. On the other hand, if the
qualities you value most in your company are leadership, integration, shared
objectives and efficiency, you can expect the opposite of the Summit process.
There are two possible reasons for this. One is that while the "bottom-up"
approach (to setting the agenda and 'declaration' negotiations) worked well at
the regional level, it has been difficult to manage on a global scale. The UN
is simply not well enough equipped to handle this process - budgetary and time
constraints being factors. This is exacerbated by the real complexity of the
Summit's task - integration of the environmental agenda initiated in Stockholm
'72 and the development agenda initiated in Rio '92. On a national level only
the UK, Netherlands, Nordic countries, Brazil and several small countries,
have been able to integrate these two agendas successfully. In addition, most
Summit negotiators (and observers) are from environmental backgrounds and
report to environmental ministries. They will struggle to cope with the task
of addressing development issues. But whatever the political mastery,
the real world will have its way. The trends we summarize in Tomorrow's
Markets create your business risks and opportunities. Be in Jo'burg to show
how business is part of the solution.

The third Preparatory
Committee for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) is now behind
us, and the final one will start at the city of Bali, Indonesia at the end of
May. The question I have had to answer at gatherings of this nature is whether
we are progress at these negotiations, and many have even expressed
trepidation at the perceived slow pace. Despite this often-cited sentiment, I
believe that progress has been made around the general outcome that we want
for the summit. These preparations are not only at a logistical level, but
also on what we South Africans and the whole world want the summit to achieve
- a Global Deal and Programme of Action that address humanity's greatest
threat - poverty. These substance preparations, capacity building activities
and awareness raising activities, are much needed as we want to avoid a 'talk
shop' at Johannesburg and consider concrete outcomes as the real measure for
success. These concrete outcomes with measurable targets and time frames
are more than what we wish to get out of Johannesburg. They are a must in a
world in which more people than ever before live in sub-human poverty and the
economic shape-up of our world continues to sideline and isolate Africa and
the rest of countries of the South. We will therefore gather at the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, a follow-up to the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development, with more that just the environment
in our minds. When world leaders gather here on from August 24 to September 4,
they will have to reflect on the outcomes of the Millennium Summit held two
years ago, at which noble targets on global development goals were agreed
upon. We will be going to Johannesburg conscious of the reality that the
challenge of eradicating poverty and halving the number of impoverished people
by 2015 is a challenge we as governments cannot tackle alone. This translates
into a call for the undivided commitment of all partners behind the pursuit of
the agreements that will emerge from here. We come to Johannesburg cognisant
that economic growth, social development and environmental protection go hand
in hand, and therefore business, civil society and government have no choice
but to make this partnership a reality. Ten years since the Earth Summit in
Rio de Janeiro, it has become clear that as Johannesburg gets near, our vision
of a world where no one is in need is under a great threat, and that the road
to poverty eradication is long and winding. This sad sense is reflected in the
fact that today over one billion people world-wide still live on less that one
dollar a day with the numbers increasing in Latin America, South Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa. We should, therefore, restore hope and certainty with a
message that ten years from now, we will be able to
look back at this summit with pride and say that it was a landmark in our
efforts to create a sustainable future for all. Our message to the South
should equally be that if the world continues along this path, the combined
threat of ill health and disease, conflicts over natural resources, and
environmental degradation as well as economic instability in the North will
ultimately undermine the prosperity and stability of the developed world. The
World Summit is therefore an opportunity to define a new relationship between
the North and South - a new deal for sustainable development based on solid
commitments from both developed and developing countries. A relationship that
will address both trade and finance issues, building on the outcomes of the
World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Doha and the recent
International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico.
The new deal must incorporate a range of measures and solid commitment
including:

* The extension of
current debt relief initiatives

* Incentives for the
private sector to invest in developing countries

* And Measures to
facilitate the transfer of technology capacity and scientific innovation from
developed to developing countries.

Our understanding is
that in Johannesburg we will showcase the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD) as the basis for sustainable development in our continent,
with an emphasis on African leadership and ownership, a new economic agenda
and effective governance for the elimination of corruption and the
establishment of peace, democracy and macro economic stability. Johannesburg
must further secure support from developed countries and international
financial institutions for the implementation and success of NEPAD. The
Johannesburg Summit will surely come out with a commitment by world leaders,
but that would not be the measure of its success. We will only know that we
have succeeded if the commitment is backed by a tangible programme of action
to deliver results in key sectors such as water and sanitation, energy, food
security, health, education and technology. We also want to see the summit
agree on an action-oriented framework with targets supported by appropriate
co-ordination and monitoring mechanisms, relying on a series of partnerships
at global, national, regional and local levels. A legacy that has real impact
on the everyday lives of the billion people living with less than a dollar a
day, millions without access to affordable energy, and clean water, is what
will be left behind by Johannesburg if this is achieved. The multi-stakeholder
Advisory Committee we have established continues to ensure that in our
preparations the views of business, NGOs and labour are taken into account. We
are certain we are working together through discussions of this nature to take
forward the aims and expected outcomes from Johannesburg. We are privileged
with a unique opportunity to demonstrate our ability to deliver an event of
this scale and thus prove that our country is a place where people can invest
with confidence. It is an opportunity we dare not under- utilise. For the sake
of our people, planet and prosperity, we have projected a bold and ambitious
vision, and I believe that together in partnership we can play an important
role in helping to achieve it. The option of failure is not available for us.

39)
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS 'MONTERREY CONSENSUS' MUST NOW BE MEANINGFULLY
IMPLEMENTED, IN ADDRESS TO ECOSOC MEETING WITH BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS

Following is the
address of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the High-Level Meeting of the
Economic and Social Council and the Bretton Woods institutions in New York on
22 April:

It is my great
pleasure to welcome you once again to the United Nations. It is
especially gratifying to address you so soon after the International
Conference on Financing for Development. Monterrey was a real achievement.
It has given new and timely life to the noble quest of international
cooperation for development. And it was the culmination of wide-ranging
efforts to put development at the core of the international agenda. I
congratulate you for your part in making this progress possible. But, let us
be clear: Monterrey was not an end in itself. Our challenge now is to
maintain the positive spirit that led to the Monterrey Consensus, and
translate it into real and meaningful implementation. That Consensus has
enormous potential to bring about significant, overdue change.
Where once we spoke about conditionality, the Monterrey
Consensus is based on partnership, with shared responsibilities and mutual
accountability. Where once we debated over competing visions of
development and how to measure it, we now have a common platform in the
Millennium Development Goals, which we will be striving to achieve and
monitoring together each year. Where once ministers of finance, trade and
development often pursued their work quite separately, today we understand the
need for coherence and collaboration, which can reinforce each other's work
and make it more effective. And where once we were mired in
misconceptions about official development assistance, today we see clearly
that ODA can work in the right circumstances, and the Consensus is firm in its
call for more and better ODA.

Today we also
recognize, more than ever before, the need for good governance, sound
macroeconomic policies, debt relief and access to markets and foreign
investment. We understand the imperative of fighting corruption and
equitable burden-sharing in times of financial crisis. And we realize
that developing countries must have a greater voice in economic
decision-making, and that the global monetary, financial and trading systems
must work in better tandem. This meeting is well-timed to sustain this
momentum. Our discussions over the past several years have proven very
useful in ensuring that our institutions understand each other and work better
together. Now, in the follow-up to Monterrey, this meeting has been
given the specific task of addressing issues of coherence, coordination and
cooperation. I hope you will use today's meeting to explore how best we
can address this task and build on the Monterrey experience. We must
continue the inclusive approach that has seen the participation of different
ministries and all stakeholders. And we must take care not to duplicate
processes that are already taking place elsewhere. For my part, I will
ensure that the requests addressed to me in the Monterrey Consensus are
carried out fully and in a timely fashion. And I will do all I can to
ensure that our organizations "stay on the same page" -- for example in our
work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. One of the first major tasks
we face is to ensure the success of the Johannesburg Summit, which is only
four months away. Last year's agreement in Doha has offered the prospect
of a true "development round" of trade negotiations, and therefore of a global
market that is fair and that gives men and women in the developing world a
chance to trade their way out of poverty. Monterrey offers the promise
that developing countries will be able to seize such an opportunity by
mobilizing the resources that are so desperately needed for development.
Johannesburg must put a crucial piece of the puzzle into place by offering the
prospect of sustainability -- development that makes a difference not only
today, but over the long term. The world economy is slowly recovering from its
worst performance in a decade. Although the recovery started sooner than
previously expected, the United Nations expects the global economy to grow
only by around 2 per cent in 2002, with momentum pushing global economic
growth to above 3 per cent in 2003. Nevertheless, many questions remain
regarding the strength of the recovery, its breadth across economies and
sectors, and its sustainability. Growth prospects of many developing
countries remain constrained by the slow recovery of the developed countries,
lacklustre flows of private capital and by declining prices for non-oil
exports. The need for sustainable, equitable development, in rich and poor
countries alike, should be clear to all of us. But let us also devote
our energies to taming development's worst enemy -- armed conflict, which can
extinguish, in days or even hours, years of work to reduce poverty. We
have a common vision, set out in the Millennium Declaration and now in the
Monterrey Consensus. I hope that the unprecedented level of
collaboration between the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and
the World Trade Organization will continue, so that our institutions can
respond effectively to the new responsibilities that have been placed upon us.

40)
SPEECH BY COMMISSIONER MARGOT WALLSTRÖM, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
RESPONSIBLE FOR ENVIRONMENT, ON THE "WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
IN JOHANNESBURG" (WSSD) AT THE CIVIL SOCIETY CONFERENCE IN BRUSSELS

The World Summit on
Sustainable Development is not an isolated event in itself. As the Commission
has said many times, it has to be seen as part of a continuum of action
stretching from Doha through Monterrey to Johannesburg and beyond. This was a
key message of our 13th February Communication on Global Partnership. That is
also why I am so pleased to have been joined here today by Pascal Lamy and
Poul Nielson. It is my pleasure to bring the day's discussions to an end by
confirming again the European Commission's strong commitment to making a
success of the Summit and playing an active leadership role. There is clearly
an implementation deficit. It is now time to move from words to deeds. Agenda
21 was not fully implemented because financial resources were not allocated to
it the means were not forthcoming at a level commensurate with the ambition of
Agenda 21. As my colleague Poul Nielson has underlined this afternoon, the ODA
increase announced in Monterrey should facilitate progress in Johannesburg.
But we have also to be more creative to find appropriate and innovative means
of implementation.

AN AGENDA FOR CHANGE

We need an ambitious
agenda for change... An agenda that strikes the balance between the necessary
economic, social and environmental actions we require. There is a growing
consensus that poverty eradication and sustainable consumption and production
are the overriding objectives of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
The question, which we must answer in Johannesburg, is how to achieve these
goals? We believe that by developing comprehensive initiatives on water and
energy we can help make a dramatic improvement in health in the developing
world, for example by providing clean drinking water and sanitation to the
millions who do not have it today. Better health through better water
management will also help to alleviate poverty by enabling people to build
sustainable economic futures. By helping to provide clean, affordable energy
we can also help developing countries break out of poverty and
underdevelopment. That is why these two issues should be effectively
addressed in the Johannesburg action plan. They are very high on the EU's
agenda and when we meet in Bali in a few weeks, we will be actively pressing
for positive outcomes and meaningful commitments for them. We are prepared to
offer concrete regional partnerships in these areas, sharing EU expertise and
providing finance through our development programmes.

At least 1.1 billion
people still lack access to safe drinking water and about 2.4 billion have no
adequate sanitation. We want to agree in Johannesburg on a strategic
partnership to halve the number of people without access to safe drinking
water and sanitation by 2015 by promoting sustainable water resource
management based on the principle of integrated river basin management;
Approximately 2 billion people close to one third of the world's population
have little or no access to modern energy. We want to agree on concrete action
in the field of energy and sustainable development:

*
to reduce the number of people without access to energy supply;

*
to provide clean, affordable energy to the one billion people who do
not have access to modern energy services by 2015; and

*
to increase energy efficiency and conservation and the share of
renewable energy in all countries.

PARTNERSHIPS FOR
ACTION

So when we travel
back from Johannesburg at the end of the first week in September, what should
we be bringing back with us on the flight home? We must bring:

A renewed commitment
by all countries to sustainable development to be reflected in a political
declaration adopted at Johannesburg.

An action plan with ambitious but realistic targets and concrete deliverables
upon which we can be held to account.

Partnerships for
action, that is initiatives involving all stakeholders to implement the action
plan. We believe that Johannesburg should strengthen governance at all
levels by ensuring policy coherence and policy integration in the economic,
social and environmental fields. This requires more effective governance
structures at international, regional and national levels. In particular,
Johannesburg must deliver regional actions for Africa, building on ongoing
initiatives like the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
National sustainable development strategies and the role of local authorities
are also particularly important.

THE ROLE OF
STAKEHOLDERS

Let me underline just
two aspects of the role you stakeholders can play in the remaining months
before the Summit. You can give an effective contribution to ensure
implementation. The EU is also looking towards the private sector whose
commitment is essential in making globalization sustainable and in delivering
concrete action on the ground. This is why we would welcome the active
involvement of responsible businesses in sectors like water and energy. You
can also help bring a sense of urgency into the preparations for Johannesburg.
Rio would not have been the success without the active commitment and the
mobilization of civil society organizations throughout the world, in the North
and in the South. We need the same level of commitment and mobilization to
ensure that Johannesburg is a success. For its part, the Commission will work
with you and will also work intensively with the Indonesian Chairman and with
the South African organizers of the WSSD, as well as with other partners and
the UN family to help ensure a successful outcome.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Our approach to
globalization and sustainability must be one of strengthened multilateralism
across the agendas of environment, trade and development co-operation. Let us
also be clear that the European Union will again need to play the leading role
among rich countries in achieving an ambitious and action-oriented outcome to
the Johannesburg Summit. Europe needs to bring to the preparations for the
Johannesburg Summit the same level of leadership that it has shown on Kyoto
... and on Doha and Monterrey. The Spanish Presidency of the EU throughout the
remaining preparatory process in the run-up to the Seville Summit and the
Danish Presidency which will be in the EU chair at the time of Johannesburg
have important roles to play in ensuring that the EU delivers. I hope that
together this afternoon we have been able to assure you that the European
Commission of course stands ready in this regard.

41)
SPEECH BY PASCAL LAMY, EU COMMISSIONER FOR TRADE, ON "THE WSSD IN
JOHANNESBURG: ENRICHING THE EU'S CONTRIBUTION, MAKING GLOBALIZATION WORK FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT", AT THE CLOSING SESSION OF "GREEN WEEK" IN BRUSSELS.

The discussions you
had today were under the heading of "Making globalization work for sustainable
development". This is one of the key priorities for the EU's sustainable
development strategy. Let me briefly set out how I see the key challenge and
what role trade can play in this respect. The point of departure is simple:
The present state of the world division of labor is neither equitable nor
sustainable. In front of such a predicament, there are two options:

* Either going on
with the present demographic, economic, social and ecological imbalances. This
is the road towards confrontation. And for those who implicitly accept such a
risk, the only way out is a security approach based on strategic hegemony.

This is not an option
for Europe: it does not fit in with our values - and anyway, it would be
beyond our reach.

* Or building up a
multilateral and multipolar system of global governance aimed at sustainable
development for the whole planet.

The task assigned to
such a system should be two-fold

*
firstly, real convergence of GDP/head between North-South, but subject
to

*
secondly, increasing environmental disciplines, which of course have to
start here in the North.

Such a sustainable
development approach is the only way consistent with the EU model although
this concept remains pretty blurred or is even getting a bit elusive and with
EU long term interest. It is a course of co-operation, of peace and of
prosperity. This is the global partnership we have to achieve in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg is a priority for the Prodi Commission. The fact that you have
three Commissioners present here is testimony to the importance we attach to
making the WSSD a success. It is also an indication about the horizontal
nature of the SD challenge: SD is not something you can neatly put into boxes
(economic, social, environmental), and then each Commissioner (or Minister)
goes away and deals with his or her box in their respective corners - no, we
need to address the interlinkages between the three main pillars of SD and
this is in fact a task for the whole College [which incidentally explains why
it might have taken a bit longer than some of you - and us - would have wished
for the COM Communication for Johannesburg to see the light of day]. Putting
the globe on a sustainable development path requires commitments from all
parties, in the field of trade, finance and norms and standards:

* The developed world
has a key role and must deliver by fully implementing the Doha Development
Agenda agreed last November, in terms of market access, development-oriented
trade rules and technical assistance. We must also deliver in terms of public
and private financing (follow up of Monterrey) and innovative approaches to
environmental, health and consumer protection, including incentives for
environmentally and socially sustainable production and trade.

* Internal policies
in the developing world will need to be developed to ensure that the domestic
policies support a sustainable approach to development. Domestic policies are
key. Not only those related to integration with the
global economy, but also domestic policies, which may, in fact, be a
prerequisite for successful integration. These include sound macro-economic
policies, rule of law and social policies.

* And, of course, all
countries must become more committed to a more responsible use and protection
of natural resources. Developed countries have a responsibility here to lead
by example and to assist developing countries in their efforts.

* On a global level,
governance needs to be improved and developing countries need to be more
effectively involved in decision-making processes. The contribution of the
international institutions is a prerequisite for progress. The Bretton Woods
Institutions, the WTO and the UN system in their norm-setting and
aid-providing roles need to work towards the strategic goal of sustainable
development.

It will not surprise
you that as Trade Commissioner, I would like to dwell a bit longer on the
contribution trade can make to SD - and under what conditions. I am of course
fully aware that trade is only part of the picture, but I would argue it's an
important one. I see the World Trade Organisation as the commercial pillar of
global governance, with finance as another and the set of rules and
co-operation schemes, which deal with social development and environment
protection as a third one. And global governance is about coherence between
the three pillars: Doha - Monterrey - Johannesburg! Trade liberalization
without financial assistance and without multilateral, social and
environmental norms would neither achieve North-South convergence, nor
sustainable management of natural resources. Trade is not an end in itself,
but a means to an end - it can be a very powerful tool for development if we
get the conditions right. The agreement of WTO members to launch a new round
of trade liberalization and rule-making in Doha has created a golden
opportunity to achieve more sustainable development. The aim of DDA is to
ensure substantially greater market access for developing countries, both to
developed markets and between themselves, together with a rules-based
framework to maximize the positive impacts of trade and minimize the negative
ones. Talks on a wide range of issues such as competition, investment and
trade facilitation will ensure that market liberalization takes place in a
broader regulatory framework. In the absence of such rules, free-riders or
monopolies will lead the process of globalization. The inclusion of
environment on the international trade agenda through the DDA is also
groundbreaking from a sustainable development perspective and provides an
instrument for improved global governance. Marrakech (on the Kyoto Protocol),
Doha and Monterrey provide a solid basis for significant outcomes in the WSSD.
The WSSD is an essential rendezvous that should pull the various strands
together and provide international organizations and governments with a
roadmap for the next decade. In the trade area, WSSD can contribute by
identifying a positive agenda for trade. The objective is twofold: to promote
and support the successful implementation of the DDA and to agree concrete and
operational measures outside the scope of Doha negotiations, which stimulate
environmentally and socially sustainable production and trade. I hope that we
can convince our partners to work towards such a positive message at the
Summit. In this context, I should like to say that I very much welcome appeals
such as the one launched by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF, Third World
Network and others that call on Johannesburg to push for WTO members to
deliver on their commitment to clarify the relationship between the WTO and
Multilateral Environmental Agreements - and this in a way that does not
subordinate MEAs to WTO rules. This is indeed an essential question of
coherence in global governance, and pressure from civil society in this
respect can be helpful both in our EU-internal discussions and in our contacts
with WTO partners. The EU has already done a lot outside the scope of DDA:

* Everything But Arms
- complete tariff and quota free market access for all products except arms
from 49 least developed countries - other developed countries should do the
same

* The GSP scheme,
which has been improved for all developing countries, also non LDC countries,
with increased preferences for those countries taking into account social and
environmental concerns.

* Sustainability
Impact Assessment, SIA: The Commission will use the SIAs
in all trade its negotiations, both multilateral and regional agreements.

In addition, the
Commission is working on several ideas for this positive trade agenda for the
World Summit, both on measures that should be undertaken by governments (in
World Summit "new speak", type 1 initiatives), and measures that can be
undertaken in partnership with NGOs or the private sector, type 2 initiatives.
We are working with type 1 ideas ranging from finding ways to facilitate the
use of environmental technologies in developing countries, to supporting and
stimulating fair trade and organic produce. We are working with ideas for type
2 initiatives with NGOs such as the support for a sustainable trade center,
aimed at facilitating exports from developing countries, support for the
promotion and wider use of sustainability impact assessments in developing
countries, and for the protection of natural resources, e.g. combating trade
in products resulting from illegal logging. The agreement to launch a new
development agenda in Doha was a major step towards sustainable development.
The EU was a united and steadfast leader in this process, which shows that the
EU can achieve significant outcomes on a global level provided that it works
consistently and pursues a clear and unambiguous agenda. This is also the
lesson from Marrakech and Monterrey: United, we can make a difference. It's a
formidable challenge - but I am confident that we can tackle it.

42)
SPEECH BY POUL NIELSON, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN
AID. "WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN JOHANNESBURG" (WSSD) AT THE
CLOSING SESSION OF " GREEN WEEK " IN BRUSSELS

The recent
Conferences in Doha and in Monterrey have cleared some of the issues, that
could have been a stumbling block on the road to a successful Summit in
Johannesburg, but many issues will remain on the table. However, in order to
turn Johannesburg into a success, perceptions and words will not be enough.
Leadership will also be needed in terms of action. The Commission has
expressed this clearly in its communication on the external dimension of
sustainable development adopted in February, which complements the internal
strategy adopted last year. The EU must lead by example, in key interrelated
areas. I would like to stress the points that flow most prominently from this
document: We need to give high priority to fighting poverty. The Conference in
Monterrey has prepared the way in that respect. The "Monterrey Consensus", as
well as the commitments made by countries outside of that document, has put in
place the elements of the partnership that Johannesburg has to develop and
strengthen. The commitments contained in this document can also, overall, be
considered in accordance with the EU's concept of a global partnership,
encompassing the results of global meetings on sustainable development from
Doha, to Monterrey, to Rome and finally to Johannesburg. With respect to the
mobilization of public financial resources, the EU has already committed
itself at Barcelona to an increase of ODA from the current average of 0.33%
GNP/ODA to the 0.39% GNP/ODA between now and 2006. This will translate into an
extra € 8 billion per year by the year 2006 for development aid focusing on
poverty reduction and sustainable development. There are however some points
on which Monterrey falls short of expectations. Let
me point out a few major topics where action and initiative from the EU is
needed and on which we will continue to work until and in Johannesburg to
ensure an adequate solution:

* On the issues
relating to global governance, the Monterrey Consensus limits itself to
stressing the need to enhance the voice of developing countries in the
international financial architecture without going into any concrete
proposals. We need to go beyond that and work on improving the system of
global governance by making global governance structures more inclusive and
coherent with each other as well as by strengthening in particular global
governance in the social and environmental sector.

* On innovative
sources of financing, the Monterrey Consensus does not go beyond a general
sentence on the need to further explore this issue, while the global public
goods are not even mentioned. We must seize the opportunity that will be
provided by the Johannesburg conference to further advance the international
discussion of these issues and to agree on ways to address them. One of the
innovative features of the Johannesburg Summit is that, besides the formally
agreed Declarations, there will be voluntary initiatives and partnerships
involving countries, international organizations, stake holders (so-called
"type 2 outcomes").

The EU is
considering, amongst others, the following initiatives:

* A strategic
partnership for the sustainable management of water resources, based on the
principle of integrated river basin management.

* A strategic
partnership in the field of energy for sustainable development.

* A specific
initiative for Africa, building on ongoing initiatives like the New
Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

Strengthening coherence of EU policies.
We must ensure that all EU policies, including our agricultural and fisheries
policies, immigration policies, regulation on arms exports are conducive to
global sustainable development. The Development Council will adopt conclusions
on these key issues of the EU external dimension of sustainable development at
the end of May.

Environment ministers
from eight major industrialized countries, known as G-8, released a statement
April 14 calling for more action to reverse the continuing degradation of the
world's environment.

The statement was
released at the end of a ministerial meeting held April 12-14 in Banff,
Canada, to prepare for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The ministers said
reversing environmental degradation would require giving urgent attention to
increasing sustainable patterns of consumption and production, alleviating
poverty, improving domestic and international institutions, resolving conflict
and curtailing pollution. "The World Summit must show renewed political
commitment resulting in a Plan of Action, and deliver partnerships to achieve
sustainable development, producing tangible results and mobilizing action at
all levels," the statement said. The ministers said they would work together
with governments and other partners to develop concrete proposals in specific
key sectors, including, among others, strategic partnerships to promote access
to safe water and sanitation, and actions to substantially reduce the number
of people without access to energy supplies. The ministers also noted a
growing appreciation for the linkages between environment, health and poverty,
expressing special concern for children and other vulnerable populations in
the face of growing environmental pressures from polluted air, water and soil,
the effects of climate change, the growth of transportation, chemical use and
urban development.

44)
BANFF MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ON THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

April 14, 2002

We, the Environment
Ministers of the eight major industrialized countries, and the European
Commissioner responsible for the Environment, met in Banff, Canada, from April
12 to 14, 2002, to advance preparations for the upcoming World Summit on
Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August
26 to September 4, 2002. Discussions focused on environment and development,
environment and health, and environmental governance.

Since the 1992 Rio
Summit, we have witnessed a growing awareness of the need to manage the
environment in a sustainable manner to promote human dignity and well-being.
We commend progress in managing environmental resources in a sustainable
manner at the local, national, regional and international levels, and the
commitment to sustainable development shared by all levels of society and the
international community. We also recognize that more action is required. The
state of the environment world-wide continues to degrade. In order to reverse
environmental degradation, we must attain more sustainable patterns of
consumption and production, alleviate poverty, further improve domestic and
international institutions, resolve conflict and curtail pollution. To secure
global prosperity, stability and security, all these issues require urgent
attention.

TOWARD A SUCCESSFUL
WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The World Summit must
arrive at action-oriented outcomes, effectively responding to the new
challenges that have arisen since the Rio Summit. It should strongly reinforce
Agenda 21 and help deliver the positive outcomes achieved at the Millennium
Summit in New York, World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Doha
and the Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey. The goals of the
World Summit will also be advanced by a positive outcome from the next World
Food Summit. The World Summit must be about implementation. It must build upon
the active engagement of all stakeholders and must seek ways to develop active
and effective partnerships among them.

We are committed to
continue to demonstrate leadership in implementing sustainable development, at
home and globally, working with the international community to further
implement Agenda 21. We are making every effort to ensure the early entry into
force and implementation of multilateral environmental conventions and
protocols.

We reaffirm the need
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet the pressing global environmental
challenge of climate change with global participation. We are determined to
take the lead by taking strong actions, in fulfillment of our commitments
under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and in furthering its
ultimate objective. For most countries, this means timely entry into force of
the Kyoto Protocol, with many ratifications by the
World Summit; for other countries, it means taking strong, realistic domestic
actions. We agree to reinforce our exchange of information and best practices,
in particular in the field of research and development. The World Summit must
show renewed political commitment resulting in a Plan of Action, and deliver
partnerships, to achieve sustainable development, producing tangible results
and mobilizing action at all levels. A successful World Summit requires
leadership and engagement at the highest possible levels. We will work
together with governments and other partners to develop concrete proposals in
specific key sectors including, among others, i)
strategic partnerships to promote sustainable water resource management,
including access to safe water and sanitation; and ii) building on work
already done by G8 countries, actions in the field of energy such as
substantially reducing the number of people without access to energy supplies,
increasing energy efficiency, improving conservation of energy resources,
developing new technologies and promoting the use and share of renewable
energy sources in all countries. Among others, attention should also be given
to continuing to enhance the protection and sustainable management of forests,
including action to combat illegal logging and related trade. We look forward
to the 6th Conference of the parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity
making constructive progress in this area.

ENVIRONMENT AND
DEVELOPMENT

Better integration of
the environmental dimension into economic and social development policies
remains a challenge and is crucial for the achievement of Agenda 21 and of the
internationally agreed development goals and targets, including those
contained in the Millennium Declaration. We are committed to work with our
respective domestic and international partners to ensure that globalization
promotes sustainable development for the benefit of all. We acknowledge the
important contributions of multilateral environmental agreements to advance
global sustainable development. These agreements have proven to be effective
tools to shape national sustainable development policies and programs, and
frame concrete action at all levels. We resolve to work with our partners at
all levels to enhance their effectiveness. In this regard, we stress the need
for adequate resources to the third replenishment of the Global Environmental
Facility, taking into account the broadening of its mandate. We underscore the
contribution to poverty alleviation that is made through community-based
conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.

We recognize the
pressing need to continue to improve coherence among different policies such
as international development, social, trade, finance (including export
credits), investment and bilateral and multilateral environmental assistance,
and the mechanisms and tools that support development objectives. We welcome
the innovative approach to sustainable development put forward in the New
Partnership for Africa's Development by our African partners, and intend to
work with them to advance its goals.

ENVIRONMENT AND
HEALTH

The connection
between health and the quality of our environment has become a key driver of
environmental protection in both developed and developing countries. We
underscore the importance of working in partnership with our health colleagues
to strengthen efforts toward sustainable development. There is also a growing
appreciation of the linkages between environment, health and poverty. We are
especially concerned about children and other particularly vulnerable
populations, in our own countries and globally, in the face of growing
environmental pressures, notably from polluted air, water and soil, and the
effects of climate change, growth of the transportation sector, chemical use
and urban development. Our policies should continue to be based on the
precautionary approach, as set forth in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration.
Contaminated water and inadequate sanitation cause a large proportion of ill
health and disease in the developing world, leading to millions of deaths each
year, particularly among children.

Progress has been
made through initiatives such as the 1997 G8 Miami Declaration on Children's
Environmental Health, the programs developed by the European Environment and
Health Committee, and the recent meeting of Health and Environment Ministers
of the Americas. We welcome the convening of Health and Environment Ministers
of African countries and strongly encourage other regions in the world to
follow in this direction. Among the most important instruments for the sound
management of chemicals are the Rotterdam
Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous
Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and the Stockholm Convention
on Persistent Organic Pollutants and we support their early entry into force
and implementation by member parties. We also note the effective steps taken
by organizations such as the Arctic Council in addressing health and
environment challenges for northern people. Collectively, we will consider
further areas of collaboration such as review of, and action towards,
providing safe drinking water and sanitation, and improved air quality in
urban areas through advanced technology and clean fuels. Children's
environmental health is of particular concern to G8 Environment Ministers. In
2002, we have taken stock of our collective and individual actions to
implement the 1997 Miami Declaration on Children's Environmental Health and
reaffirm our commitment to its implementation. Recognizing that the task of
protecting children's health from environmental threats is ongoing, we agree
to collectively advance work on the development of children's environmental
health indicators as a means for monitoring progress, in consultation with
relevant multilateral organizations. We see the World Summit as a key
opportunity to mobilize concrete actions to address environmental issues that
threaten human health. We see a clear need to further the science base in
order to underpin action on environment and health issues and to build
capacity to address them in an integrated way at all levels. We resolve to
work with partners throughout the international community, and with key
international organizations, particularly the United Nations Environment
Program and the World Health Organization to develop and implement
constructive approaches to meet environment, health and poverty challenges. We
agree to early discussions by experts to determine how we can further advance
G8 thinking on the World Summit initiatives related to human health and
environment in the context of sustainable development. In this regard, we call
for the launch, in Johannesburg, of an international initiative to synthesize
and exchange existing information on environment and human health linkages,
including the evaluation of best practices and the identification of barriers
to action and focus actions and funding on the identified priorities with a
view to strengthening policy responses.

NATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE

Solid policy, legal,
regulatory measures and measures promoting voluntary initiatives are required
to enhance sustainability and improve environmental performance. Each of our
countries has taken important steps in this direction, and has made gains in
terms of institution building, resource efficiency, citizen involvement, and
cooperation with communities of interest, including local authorities and the
private sector. We note in particular the critical role that those private
sector players committed to sustainable development can play through
investment, technology and corporate social responsibility. We need to explore
ways to create opportunities for these leading companies and to facilitate
their ability to play an active role in recruiting a greater number of private
sector entities to adhere to the principles of sustainable development.
Voluntary codes of conduct and initiatives like the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises, the Global Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative
and the proposed London Principles can play an important role in promoting
sustainable corporate practices. The G8 Environmental Futures Forum on the
Role of Government in Advancing Corporate Sustainability, held in March 2002,
was an excellent step forward for coordinated efforts by G8 countries. We will
promote proposals and ideas that encourage foreign investment to make a
greater contribution to environmental protection and sustainable development.
We are committed to continue to improve our respective domestic environmental
governance and to further engage civil society on the merits of sustainable
development. We underline the need to integrate environmental, social and
economic policy making, including, for example, through the elaboration and
implementation of national sustainable development strategies. We will
continue to share with the international community our successes and
lessons-learned on environmental governance. We stress the importance of
effective national governance to achieve sustainable development in all
countries.

In the context of the
overall discussion of sustainable development governance, we welcome the
recommendations emerging from the Intergovernmental Group on International
Environmental Governance, under the leadership of the United Nations
Environment Program. These recommendations are essential to a strengthened
international environmental regime, and as such represent an important
contribution to the World Summit. We are committed to take concrete steps at
the World Summit to ensure their full implementation and the enhancement of
linkages between the strengthening of international environmental governance
and the other aspects of sustainable development governance. We underline the
urgent need to improve the financial situation of UNEP, which remains hampered
by insufficient and unpredictable resources, by such ways as providing UNEP
with more predictable funding, a broadened base of contributions, more
efficient and effective use of available resources, and greater mobilization
of resources from the private sector and other major groups. We also note the
importance of strengthening UNEP, including as regards its coordinating role,
and will consider the important but complex issue of universal membership of
the Global Ministerial Environment Forum/Governing Council in the context of
preparations for the World Summit. We will continue to collaborate with the
international community and UN bodies to enhance the effectiveness of
international governance, including multilateral environmental governance,
governance at the regional and subregional level (e.g. UN regional
commissions) conducive to sustainable development so as to enhance the
coordination of our respective environmental, economic and social objectives.

CONCLUSION

Our commitment to
sustainable development remains strong, and we will pursue that commitment
through further action. Local, national, regional, and global environmental
challenges are growing in severity and complexity, and their resolution
requires leadership, innovation and investment. We look forward to the World
Summit in Johannesburg as a timely occasion to galvanize the international
community and make further progress towards sustainable development. It is a
unique chance to reverse the current trend in the depletion and degradation of
environmental resources, contribute to poverty alleviation, promote equity,
and make globalization work for sustainable development. We will do our part,
and welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with the global community
to shape a prosperous, secure and sustainable future for generations to come.

See Also:

G-8 ministers discuss
making environmental issues part of new global focus on sustainable
development

It is a great
pleasure to be here as part of the Bank's sustainable development month. In
the run up to Johannesburg this August, I've made it a personal priority to
concentrate on something on which I think you and I will agree: the need for
real, focused and positive outcomes from this World Summit on Sustainable
Development. The limited outcome of the third preparatory meeting was perhaps
predictable, but it leaves us with a lot of work still to do. Perhaps it is a
bit of an understatement, but history will see it as a tragic lost opportunity
if we fail to meet this challenge of the Johannesburg Summit. I've
talked to many of those whose contributions can
make a real difference to success in Johannesburg - in government at home and
abroad, in civil society, and in private industry. Among the conclusions of
those many discussions is the recognition that multilateral development
institutions, make a unique, vital and life-changing contribution to
international development, so I particularly want to stress what I have heard
from many others: that the World Bank has an essential role to play in
Johannesburg, in securing the practical and sustainable outcomes which are so
desperately needed. This summit in Johannesburg has to be different. Ten years
on from Rio there is an acceptance that progress towards many of our
established goals has fallen short of the standards that social, economic and
moral values demand. More than 1.2 billion people still live on less than one
dollar a day. In Africa, about one third of the population
are undernourished - and that number is increasing. So, I would argue
that we do not need new conceptual agreements, conventions, principles or
charters. What we need is for all stakeholders to commit themselves to
practical action - to a genuine investment of energy and resources - if we are
to make tangible progress towards our shared objectives. I probably
don't need to stress to this audience - but I will just in case - that WSSD is
not about the environment. Sustainable Development is about making progress at
the same time on the economic, environmental and social objectives, or as our
host country South Africa has suggested, people, planet and prosperity. In
South Africa I saw impressive evidence of concrete progress already made, for
example in the provision of clean water, where the number of unserved people
has been halved since 1994. Water and sanitation will be among the top themes
for our South African hosts, and along with energy provision, they are among
the issues on which the World Bank is uniquely placed - to promote sustainable
values through developing financial products, which better reflect
environmental and social goals. In Soweto I saw some of the evidence of the
disproportionate impacts that a lack of sustainable development has on the
poor - and nowhere are these impacts more keenly felt than in Africa. Poverty
eradication through sustainable development will be our top priority for the
summit. But just as dire poverty and environmental degradation are mutually
undermining, so action on poverty and effective management of natural
resources is often mutually reinforcing. These are issues which are
fundamental to many of you, as they are to me, and as they are to the aims and
objectives of the World Bank. The Bank's strengths lie in the scale of its
lending, the breadth of its technical expertise, the extent of its long reach
around the globe, and the degree of authority, through intellectual leadership
on global issues that it can bring to bear on the policies and priorities of
developing countries. For its lead in setting and pursuing the international
development agenda, and for its role in contributing to the Millennium
Development Goals, the World looks for guidance to its World Bank. Since Rio
we can point to a considerable intellectual achievement: the development of an
integrated conceptual framework, which takes account of the environmental and
developmental strands of sustainability. And yet the practical gains offered
by these principles remain largely unrealised. So I repeat,
Johannesburg has to be different. But how do we make it so? Making it so
depends upon building partnerships for delivery within and across governments,
civil society and business. As ever, we need governments to provide more aid
but we also need to ensure that it is used more effectively. We need to
promote good governance, but we also need to ensure that the policies which
developed countries pursue are consistent with their own development goals.
And we need to take account of our responsibility to practice the agenda of
free trade that we are so fond of preaching to others. We strongly welcome the
spirit of commitment to change and the practical advances made at the
Monterrey Financing for Development conference. In the UK we are firmly
committed to reaching the United Nations goal of devoting 0.7% of Gross
Domestic Product to Overseas Development Aid, and we are committed to a series
of substantial increases over the next few years to get us there.

But this direct aid
needs to be complemented by developing countries' own efforts to create the
right conditions for foreign investment, notably through establishing the
institutional and legal infrastructure that constitutes good governance. We
are particularly keen to continue working with the World Bank on sustainable
agriculture and rural development. It is key to
sustained economic growth, especially in Africa where it is the largest
sector, accounting for two thirds of the labour force, one third of GDP and
half of exports. And, of course, it is also important in providing sustainable
livelihoods. But the point has been forcibly made - not least recently by the
President of Uganda, among others - that while aid is worthwhile, it matters
little - perhaps not at all - unless, we open our markets to agricultural
produce. This point is driven home by the stark realities. While the OECD
countries collectively contributed $50 billion to ODA in 2000, they spent in
excess of $350 billion on agricultural subsidies. Food security depends on
good national governance, properly targeted incentives, and action to mitigate
soil degradation and then matching that by the developed country commitments
as at Doha to address trade practices, which restrict access to markets. So,
we welcome the Bank's recent work on the effects of tariffs, which estimates
that a 50% cut in tariffs (in the developed and developing world) would
provide gains to the developing world of the order of $150 billion a year,
which again, dwarfs the aid flows. Technology and innovation have made a vital
contribution to agricultural development and will continue to do so in the
future. But what is excellent in the North need not be relevant or appropriate
in the South. It is important to recognise that the right policy and
regulatory framework is a prerequisite to the adoption of new technologies.
Technology transfer should not be seen as an end in itself in isolation from
wider policy coherence. Technologies which are not relevant to the income and
farming systems of poor farmers are of little help and may even be of
hindrance. And whether it be in successful transfer of some technologies or
raising standards in the developing world rather than lowering them in the
developed world, capacity building will often be key.
But as I said before, increased agricultural production is of limited benefit
without adequate market access. The UK fully supports the outcome of the WTO
summit at Doha last November, committing us to improve market access,
particularly for developing countries, and to reduce domestic subsidies for
agriculture. The Doha development agenda should lead developed countries to
shift support from trade-distorting subsidies towards environmental and rural
development goals - We look to the United States to join the European Union in
supporting this agenda in its domestic policies - including addressing the
provision of export credits at below market rates. We certainly recognise that
opening up its agricultural markets is one of the biggest contributions Europe
could make to poverty eradication worldwide, and the UK is among those driving
forward the debate for reform. In South Africa, I held talks with Minister
Mohammed Valli Moosa and I welcome his desire to champion this issue at
Johannesburg. We hope that WSSD will help us win that argument within Europe,
as well as beyond.

As to the
contribution that civil society can make, it falls to non-governmental
organisations and all those with a genuine interest in positive, achievable
and concrete outcomes at Johannesburg to engage fully: in policy making, in
monitoring results and in building public awareness and support for the
achievements towards which we are striving. But the cement between the
building blocks of this grand design must come from private investment - which
forms an increasingly dominant proportion of investment flows to developing
countries. That investment has to be channelled into projects which will
deliver real, practical and sustainable benefits at local level - projects
such as those which are the focus of Type 2 agreements. And it is not enough
to assume that the private sector can do all this without guidance and
support, so it falls to the World Bank and other international finance
institutions to take up the challenge and to create a framework, and perhaps
new products, which will foster innovative development financing. Last year
the UK funded a workshop, drawing in experts from developing countries,
governments, NGOs and the IFIs themselves, to consider how the role of the
IFIs in promoting sustainable development could be enhanced. If there is a one
thing to take from that workshop's conclusions it is that IFIs have a vital
role. Through providing leadership, promoting best practice and levering in
private finance, the importance of the part they have to play cannot be
overestimated. And today I want to lay down three challenges for the World
Bank and other International Financial Institutions:

That I would like to
see greater consultation with, and ownership by,
those in developing countries who have a direct interest in a project's
success.

Second,
that recipient countries should be given greater
access to open and transparent decision-making. And third, that we should seek
a shift in focus away from large-scale infrastructure projects which in the
past may have placed too low a priority on sustainability. This means
International Finance Institutions should take the lead in setting an
incentive-based framework, promoting high standards of corporate governance
and integrating sustainable objectives into the pricing of the projects. They
must also better coordinate the implementation of existing commitments. It
also means building capacity through local institutions which can deliver
finance for the small and medium-scale enterprises best positioned to secure
sustainable livelihoods. Not least, they should provide leadership through
developing these approaches, and through applying the reservoir of knowledge
and capability that resides within the World Bank. Your expertise in these
areas makes you an essential partner in the preparations leading up to
Johannesburg.

At the most
fundamental level, sustainable development must be mainstreamed: placed at the
heart of the activities of every international financial institution.
Environmental, social and sustainable values should be considered together and
together embraced as fundamental cross-cutting dimensions rather than as
separate specialist areas. I welcome the Bank's recently published, and
ambitious, environment strategy. And initiatives such as the Global
Environment Facility and the Multilateral Fund under the Montreal Protocol
demonstrate that there is a growing consensus in favour of efforts to overcome
the lack of financial resources for sustainable development. But there is more
to be done.

Against a background
of deteriorating global environmental trends, it is imperative that the Global
Environment Facility is replenished at a reasonable level. After all, we have
asked the GEF to take on new activities in respect of persistent organic
pollutants and land degradation. We have all agreed that these should not be
at the expense of existing activities in climate change and biodiversity. That
is why the UK government has consistently called for a 50% replenishment of
the GEF amounting to $3 billion. An outcome which only delivers
a replenishment similar to the last one of $2
billion will be regarded as a failure, and failure is the last signal we want
to send to WSSD.

At Monterrey this
March huge progress was made in defining the responsibilities of the developed
world towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. And at Monterrey a
consensus was clear that we should do more to foster development finance which
takes account of social and environmental outcomes, and which can be owned and
driven by the developing countries themselves.

It is now essential
that, post-Monterrey, we should continue to engage with finance ministers in
support of this agenda. And at Johannesburg we must take it on further. I know
that Jan Pronk - the Dutch Environment Minister who has been appointed by Kofi
Annan as his Special Envoy to WSSD - shares this view. In the UK the
Corporation of London has taken a lead in drawing up a set of principles
which, when endorsed by financial institutions, will demonstrate their
commitment to play a serious role in the financing of sustainable development.
The London Principles ask signatories to reflect the cost of environmental and
social risks in the pricing of financial and risk management products, to
provide access to finance for the development of environmentally beneficial
technologies, and to provide access to financial services for businesses in
disadvantaged communities and developing countries. Of course we recognise
that others will have their own perspective on what internationally adopted
standards should include, but we hope the London Principles can provide a
useful blueprint at Johannesburg. In a globalised world, it is increasingly
clear that no one nation can solve what are collective problems - such as
poverty, terrorism, disease, climate change, migration or drug abuse. But
through Doha and Monterrey, a consensus is building that it is essential not
only from a moral perspective, but in order to guarantee mutual stability and
prosperity, that we act together in pursuit of
interests that transcend national borders and traditional notions of
sovereignty. Our self interest goes hand in hand with our common interest. At
Johannesburg, we must build on that growing consensus to ensure that the
implementation of Agenda 21, agreed at Rio, can become a reality through the
application of political will, practical steps - and partnerships. I don't
mean to suggest in Johannesburg that we should seek to create a single great
master plan. But we could, through a range of different actions and activities
create a mosaic of implementation.

Bringing a truly
sustainable dimension to the world of finance is an undeniably crucial element
of that implementation. It is in our mutual self-interest to accept this...
and to take action.

46)
THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: BEGINNING A NEW CHAPTER IN
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT HISTORY BY PAULA J. DOBRIANSKY UNDER SECRETARY OF
STATE FOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS

This article was
originally published in the Global Issues Electronic Journal "Achieving
Sustainable Development," released April 10, 2002.

In a landmark foreign
policy address at the Inter-American Development Bank on March 14, President
Bush announced substantial increases in U.S. development assistance programs
and confirmed the United States' commitment to a new vision for helping the
developing world. He underscored that the "advance of development is a central
commitment of American foreign policy. As a nation founded on the dignity and
value of every life, America's heart breaks because of the suffering and
senseless death we see in our world. We work for prosperity and opportunity
because they're right. It's the right thing to do." The World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held August 26 to September 4 in
Johannesburg is an historic opportunity to re-energize and re-focus the
international community's pursuit of sustainable development. The 1992 Rio
Conference on Environment and Development and the 10 years since have
established much of the framework for our pursuit of sustainable development.
Now, to fulfill the promise of the Rio decade -- to truly achieve sustainable
development -- the Johannesburg Summit must usher in a new chapter in which we
focus on implementation and concrete results. To do so, we must work together
to ensure that all countries have the robust institutions and sound policies
that are essential to building a prosperous future for their people and our
planet. We must forge partnerships with other governments, with businesses,
and with civil society groups that ensure successful on-the-ground
implementation.

THE RIO LEGACY: ALL
DEVELOPMENT MUST BE SUSTAINABLE

The Rio decade has
elevated the world's understanding that development must be sustainable, that
the three "pillars" of sustainable development -- environmental protection,
economic development, and social development -- must go hand-in-hand. Because
each pillar is integrally linked to the others, effective pursuit of
sustainable development requires a balanced approach that integrates all three
components.

Rio and the post-Rio
era have also established a framework for addressing sustainable development.
The Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 provide us with guiding principles and a
roadmap for fulfilling those principles. Multilateral environmental agreements
that effectively balance the three pillars of sustainable development as well
as voluntary mechanisms such as the International Coral Reefs Initiative and
the Arctic Council provide avenues for addressing environmental problems.
Further, the international development goals in the United Nations Millennium
Declaration help to outline a path that fosters economic and social
development.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES
FOR THE JOHANNESBURG DECADE

As we head to
Johannesburg, we must now turn our attention from building the framework to
implementing sustainable development on the ground. For all countries --
developed and developing -- sustainable development must begin at home.
Environmental protection, economic development, and social development all
depend on a foundation of good governance in which free markets, sound
institutions, and the rule of law are the norm. Sustainable development cannot
be achieved in an atmosphere where corruption runs deep, private property is
unprotected, markets are closed, and private contracts are unenforceable. In
his March 14 address, President Bush stressed the importance of good
governance, pledging a $5,000 million increase in development assistance as
part of a "new compact for global development." In return for this additional
commitment, the United States seeks developing country actions on the reforms
and policies that make sustainable development effective and lasting. Sound
economic policies, solid democratic institutions responsive to the needs of
the people, and improved infrastructure are the basis for sustained economic
growth, poverty eradication, and employment creation. Freedom, peace and
security, domestic stability, respect for human rights -- including the right
to development -- the rule of law, gender equality, market-oriented policies,
and an overall commitment to just and democratic societies are also essential
and mutually reinforcing. Operationally, five of the key elements that are
critical to creating an enabling domestic architecture that makes sustainable
development possible are: effective institutions; education, science, and
technology for decision-making; access to information; stakeholder
participation; and access to justice. Building a solid foundation for
sustainable development is a responsibility shared by developed and developing
countries. In the United States, we often take these elements for granted,
even while we strive to improve our efforts in this arena. Many developing
countries, however, recognize the fundamental importance of these issues to
sustainable development, but are just beginning to explore how to
operationalize them.

IMPLEMENTATION
THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS

Another major theme
we and other countries bring to the WSSD is a belief that public/private
partnerships -- involving governments at all levels, as well as NGOs,
businesses, and other stakeholders -- are critical to achieving sustainable
development. Within the United States, concrete action on sustainable
development takes place not just at the national level, but at the state and
local levels as well. Furthermore, it rarely involves only the government;
much more often, it happens in partnerships involving business and civil
society. The World Summit on Sustainable Development should be a launching
point for these partnerships. The United States will lead by example, seeking
to work in partnership with stakeholders and other governments in key sectors
such as the following:

* Health

* Energy

* Water

* Education

* Oceans and Coasts

* Food Security,
Sustainable Agriculture, and Rural Development

* Forests

A NEW CHAPTER

The World Summit on
Sustainable Development is a tremendous opportunity to turn a new corner on
sustainable development. President Bush has clearly articulated that the
United States will "lead by example." We have a destination. To get there, we
need to turn our attention towards implementation. By working together to
strengthen the foundation of domestic good governance that is essential to the
realization of sustainable development and by forging partnerships that
achieve concrete results, we can make Johannesburg a success.

47)
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM, VALLI
MOOSA, AT THE US-SA MULTI-STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE ON OUTCOMES FOR THE WORLD
SUMMIT: GOVERNANCE AND PARTNERSHIPS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

I would like to
extend a warm South African welcome to those of you who have come all the way
from the United States. I am delighted that South Africa and the US have been
able to co-operate in organising this event. As host of the World Summit on
Sustainable Development on behalf of Africa, South Africa is keen to work
closely with all our negotiating partners to deliver a successful Summit --
and, clearly, the United States is a key partner. I am pleased that the US is
actively engaged in the Summit preparations and I am sure that our dialogue
today will prove to be fruitful. Today's event is focused on the role of
partnerships and governance in the successful implementation of the outcomes
of the World Summit. I would like to use this opportunity to outline South
Africa's vision for the Summit, and to set out our views on partnerships and
governance in that context. The third preparatory committee for the Summit --
PrepCom III -- has just ended in New York. We are making progress. There is a
clear consensus that political commitments alone are not enough if we are to
achieve our aims of poverty eradication and sustainable development through
the full implementation of Agenda 21 and the Millennium Declaration. The
Summit must deliver concrete outcomes which give effect to those political
commitments -- and those outcomes must be action-oriented if they are to be
credible.

As South Africa we
have outlined our vision for a global deal on poverty eradication and
sustainable development as the key outcome of Johannesburg. The World Summit
is a unique opportunity to redefine the relationship between North and South
-- creating a new partnership based on commitments on both sides, taking into
account the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. Only
through such a global deal can we hope to reverse the marginalisation of
developing countries and make globalisation work for all. So how can we ensure
that the World Summit really delivers for the poor? It is crucial that the
global deal is supported by a global programme of action, with clear targets,
timeframes and delivery mechanisms, to be delivered through a series of
partnerships at the international, regional, national and local levels. We
must also ensure that the necessary resources are made available to implement
that programme of action, and that appropriate governance structures are in
place to ensure effective coordination, implementation and monitoring. South
Africa believes that the programme of action should focus on priority areas
such as water, energy, health, food security, education and technology.
Governments alone cannot deliver this vision. The global programme of action
requires effective partnerships between all the relevant stakeholders:
governments, the donor community, international agencies, the private sector
and civil society, each with their own clearly defined roles and
responsibilities.

At PrepCom III the
concept of partnerships gained considerable momentum, and a clearer picture is
beginning to emerge of how such partnerships might be developed and taken
forward at the international level. South Africa believes that any global
partnerships announced at the Summit must clearly be anchored in the political
commitments made by heads of state and government, and designed to give effect
to the global programme of action. They must not be a random collection of
projects which are simply rebranded for the Summit. Global partnerships need
to be based on a common future, common values and agreed goals. They must also
take account of the needs of marginalised groups, including women, young
people and disabled people. We therefore need to apply strict criteria in
selecting partnerships, which are to form part of the implementation strategy
for the global programme of action. We want to see partnerships, which are
consistent with the guiding principles of sustainable
development, which will have a significant impact at the global level, and
which are backed up with new and additional resources. We now need to
intensify the dialogue between interested parties and stakeholders to develop
concrete proposals before the Summit. We are not looking for unequal
partnerships between the resource-rich and the resource-poor, but symbiotic
relationships to entrench common values and realise common goals toward the
achievement of local and global sustainable development. Partnerships at the
regional, national and local levels will play an equally important role in
delivering the global programme of action. The New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD) could serve as a model for partnerships at the regional
level. It is a pledge by African leaders and governments, based on a common
vision and commitment, to eradicate poverty and place our countries,
individually and collectively, on the path of sustained growth and
development. Through NEPAD, African countries are assuming responsibility for
sound and effective governance, the elimination of corruption, and the
establishment of peace, democracy and economic stability, while at the same
time calling for a partnership with the international community to help
deliver that vision.

National and local
governments will also have a key role in implementing the global programme of
action, consistent with their national strategies for sustainable development
and local Agenda 21. That will require the allocation of significant capacity
and resources, supported where necessary by the international community. Here
in South Africa multistakeholder partnerships are a backbone for both policy
development and implementation. Institutionally, through Nedlac -- the
National Economic Development and Labour Council -- Government comes together
with organised business, labour and community groupings on a national level to
discuss and try to reach consensus on issues of social and economic policy.
The aim is to make economic decision-making more inclusive and to promote the
goals of economic growth and social equity. This model of intervention is
being praised internationally as one of the better. But these partnerships
will not be effective unless they are supported by an effective framework for
governance for sustainable development. That requires governments to take
action at the national level, as well as appropriate institutional
arrangements at the international level. The discussions around the
institutional arrangements for the global deal must clearly be informed by the
current debate on how to strengthen governance for sustainable development. It
has been widely acknowledged that there has been limited success since Rio in
1992 in integrating the social, economic and environmental pillars of
sustainable development and creating a coherent and integrated governance
framework for sustainable development. We must ensure that the voices of
developing and smaller countries are heard and that they are fairly
represented in the decision making process.

At the international
level, the institution mandated to co-ordinate and monitor
the Summit outcomes must have the political weight to carry out this task
effectively. It must also have legitimacy in the eyes of its stakeholders and
is therefore likely to be within the UN system. It must be adequately
resourced to carry out its task. Its primary role would be to monitor progress
towards these targets, based on reports from implementing agencies. At the
regional level and national level, there will also be a need for
well-resourced, accredited institutions to monitor and implement the deal. In
Africa, NEPAD and the NEPAD secretariat will serve as an appropriate
coordinating and delivery mechanism and reflects the commitment of African
nations to good governance. It is critical to underline the importance of good
governance at the national level -- but it is also important to bear in mind
that good governance and socio-economic stability are mutually reinforcing and
in more cases than not have to be developed concomitantly. Many developing
country governments may also not have the capacity to implement good
governance policies without international support. In conclusion, I hope that
today's event has stimulated discussion around these issues, and that it will
generate some useful ideas on partnerships and governance in the context of
the World Summit. Johannesburg is a time for innovative solutions and creative
thinking. I am confident that together we can deliver a successful Summit,
which will have an impact for generations to come.